St Patrick’s International College Limited and others v HMRC

In St Patrick’s International College Limited and others v HMRC [2023] UKFTT 408 (TC) (3 May 2023) the FTT rejected arguments made on behalf of the appellants concerning the VAT exemption for education. The FTT decided that the UK legislation validly implemented the EU legislation from which it was derived and that treating the supplies in question as taxable rather than exempt was not contrary to the principle of fiscal neutrality.

The appellants are alternative providers of education in that they are not regarded by HMRC as eligible bodies for the purposes of VATA 1994 Sch 9 Group 6 notes 1(a) to 1(e). It was common ground that one of the appellants is an eligible body for the purposes of note 1(f) because its supplies of education include teaching English as a foreign language (TEFL).

The FTT rejected an argument that if an...