In The Wellcome Trust Ltd v HMRC (Case C-459/19) (17 March 2021) the CJEU held that services supplied to a taxable person who acquired those services exclusively for its non-business activities were nonetheless to be regarded as supplied to a taxable person ‘acting as such’. Consequently it was necessary for the recipient of those services to account for VAT under the reverse charge.
The trust engaged the services of suppliers based outside the EU to provide investment management services in relation to its large endowment portfolio. The trust generated significant income from this endowment portfolio but it was accepted that its investment activity was a 'non-economic' activity for VAT purposes (the status of the activity had been the subject of a previous CJEU judgment).
The trust was VAT registered as a result of separate (and comparatively minor) taxable activities. The investment management services were...
