Prescription Eyewear Ltd v HMRC

In Prescription Eyewear Ltd v HMRC (TC02759 – 27 June) a company (P) began selling prescription spectacles via the internet in 2004. Initially it accounted for VAT on the full amount of its supplies but it subsequently submitted a repayment claim on the basis that 13.4% of the consideration should be attributed to supplies of medical care which were exempt from VAT under art 132(1)(c) of Directive 2006/112/EC. HMRC rejected the claim accepting that part of P’s supplies would have qualified for exemption if the spectacles had been personally dispensed by an optician in a shop but considering that P was not making any exempt supplies. The First-tier Tribunal allowed P’s appeal. Judge Herrington held that all P’s sales were ‘effected under the supervision of a registered optician or medical practitioner’. He held that the services provided by P’s opticians...