In Sam Smith v HMRC [2015] UKFTT 0024 (19 January 2015) the FTT found that the supply of pilot training was the supply of services.
Captain Smith had applied for voluntary registration in January 2013 with an effective date of 14 October 2012. HMRC had denied a claim for input tax refund on costs incurred in obtaining a private pilot licence on the ground that the expense was incurred in 2011 more than six months before the effective date of registration (reg 111 the VAT Regulations 1995).
The six months cut-off only applies to services. Captain Smith argued that as confirmed by HMRC’s Business Income Manual (BIM35660) the pilot licence was an asset of a capital nature. However the FTT pointed out that under art 14(1) of the Principal VAT Directive ‘Supply of goods shall mean the transfer of the right...
