Firstpoint (Europe) Ltd v HMRC

In Firstpoint (Europe) Ltd v HMRC (TC01545 – 24 November) a Scottish company (F) was formed to provide guidance and advice to students pursuing sports scholarships in the USA. Initially HMRC accepted that for VAT purposes its supplies should be treated as taking place in the USA and as outside the scope of UK VAT. However subsequently HMRC issued a ruling that the place of supply was in the UK where F was incorporated and where its clients lived. F appealed contending that it was an intermediary and that its supplies fell within VATA 1994 Sch 4A para 10 so that its supplies should be ‘treated as made in the same country as the supply to which it relates’ which was the USA. The First-tier Tribunal accepted this contention and allowed the appeal holding that F’s...