The Wellcome Trust v HMRC

In The Wellcome Trust v HMRC [2018] UKFTT 599 (10 October 2018) the First-tier Tribunal (FTT) found that the trust was not required to account for VAT under the reverse charge provisions in relation to services it received from outside the EU.

The Wellcome Trust is VAT registered and its constitution allows it to invest lay out or apply trust money in investments in any part of the world and administer manage realise and dispose of any investments ‘as freely as if the Trustee were absolutely and beneficially entitled to the money so invested laid out or applied.’

Since 1st January 2010 the trust had been accounting for output tax in the UK in respect of investment management services it purchased from non-EU suppliers. Its claims for repayment (under VATA 1994 s 80) were rejected and it appealed HMRC’s decision. The issue...