NHS Dumfries and Galloway Health Board v HMRC

In NHS Dumfries and Galloway Health Board v HMRC (TC03381 – 4 March 2014) the subject of the appeal was a claim for repayment of an excess of output tax under FA 2008 s 121 following the decision in Fleming [2008] UKHL 2. VAT had been charged and accounted for on supplies of catering and food by hospitals which were either zero-rated or exempt. The issue was the calculation of the appropriate percentage of overall supplies to which the repayment applied.

Firstly the FTT agreed with the appellant that the exempt supplies of catering to students should be taken into account in the computation (effectively added to the numerator) increasing the recoverable percentage from 15% to 18%. This was because the food supplied to students was part of the appellant’s business activities (not its public activities) and the supply of catering was ancillary to the...