Emerchantpay Ltd v HMRC

In Emerchantpay Ltd v HMRC [2022] UKFTT 334 (TC) (9 September 2022) the FTT held that payment services provided within a corporate group represented financial intermediation and qualified for the financial services exemption.

EMPL (the appellant) was a UK-based contracting and trading company acting as a ‘payment services provider’ or ‘PSP’. In the marketplace consumers would pay for goods and services by credit card a card acquirer would collect the payment from the credit card institution and transmit it to the merchant. As a PSP EMPL was interposed between the merchant and the card acquirer. Its role was to introduce merchants to card acquirers and a number of alternative payment methods. There were various elements to its services including the provision of due diligence on the merchants payment processing support and customer service. EMPL was remunerated by way of commission. 

EMPL had three...