In Loughborough Students’ Union v HMRC [2018] UKUT 343 (31 October 2018) the UT found that a student union shop did not make exempt supplies closely related to the supply of education (VATA 1994 Sch 9 group 6).
The Loughborough Students’ Union (LSU) sells stationery art materials and other items from the shops it operates on the university campus. It contended that these supplies were exempt as supplies closely related to the supply of education.
The first question was whether LSU is an ‘eligible body’ for the purpose of group 6 para 1(e). The UT observed that ‘one cannot look at the definition of “eligible body” in the abstract’. It added that there is ‘little point in being an eligible body within the Notes if none of your supplies fall within any of the exempted items’. The UT concluded that regardless of whether LSU was an eligible body...
