Insurance introductory service

Revenue & Customs Brief 31/10 sets out HMRC’s position following the Court of Appeal judgment in InsuranceWide.com Services Ltd v Revenue and Customs Comrs; Revenue and Customs Comrs v Trader Media Group Ltd [2010] STC 1572. HMRC is not appealing against the decision that certain supplies of insurance introductory services provided via the internet are exempt from VAT. HMRC now accepts that insurance introductory services will be exempt from VAT when a provider is doing much more than acting as a ‘mere conduit’ through which a potential customer is passed to a provider. While the judgment concerned insurance intermediary services it also provides some general guidance on the application of the exemption to finance intermediary services HMRC added but it should be borne in mind that ‘the UK and EU law covering the exemption for finance intermediary services is different from that for insurance intermediary services’. HMRC...