Yesterday the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak, announced specific VAT cuts to help the hospitality sector across the UK recover from the effects of lockdown. Whilst these measures have been brought in principally to support the high street they nonetheless also apply to hospitality services provided by public bodies, including the NHS.
From 15 July 2020 until 12 January 2021, the reduced rate of VAT (5%) will apply to supplies, across the UK, of:
• food and non-alcoholic drinks from restaurants, pubs, bars, cafés and similar premises
• accommodation and admission to attractions
Temporary VAT cut for supplies of food and non-alcoholic drinks from restaurants, pubs, bars, cafés and similar premises
HMRC has published amended VAT Notices detailing supplies to which the temporary reduced VAT rate would apply and confirmed that supplies in the course of catering shall be subject to the temporary 5% reduced rate of VAT, including:
• Hot and cold food for consumption on the premises on which they are supplied
• Hot and cold non-alcoholic beverages for consumption on the premises on which they are supplied
• Hot takeaway food for consumption off the premises on which they are supplied
• Hot takeaway non-alcoholic beverages for consumption off the premises on which they are supplied
The ‘premises’ to which HMRC refer in their guidance are the areas occupied by the food retailer or, any area set aside for the consumption of food by the food retailers’ customers, e.g. a restaurant or café area.
Supplies from vending machines follow the same general principles as food and drink supplied from catering outlets, as such where typically standard rated items (e.g. crisps, confectionery, beverages, etc) are purchased from a vending machine sited in a catering premise these supplies would benefit from the temporary reduced rate of VAT. However, the same type of supplies (crisps, confectionery, beverages, etc) purchased from a vending machine sited in thoroughfares and areas not designated for the consumption of food follow the VAT liability of the product sold, i.e. taxable at the 20% standard rate of VAT.
The zero rating for cold take away food still applies, as such if you have an agreed cold take away food percentage with HMRC this should still be used to apportion sales between the reduced rate of VAT and the zero rate of VAT when calculating the output VAT payable.
Temporary VAT cut for supplies of accommodation and admission to attractions across the UK
HMRC has confirmed that the temporary 5% reduced rate shall benefit hotels, inns, a boarding house, or similar establishments, when supplying:
• Sleeping accommodation, including bathrooms, living rooms and suites
• Accommodation used for the supply of catering
• Rooms provided with sleeping accommodation
Please note, the temporary reduced rate of VAT only applies to supplies of land and property that are currently chargeable at the standard rate of VAT. Accordingly, supplies of land and property that has not been subject to an option to tax shall remain an exempt supply, as would residential accommodation charges.
We will inform you of any further VAT easements from the Government relevant to the NHS as soon as we hear.
If you have any questions about anything in this alert or would wish to discuss further please contact us.
HM Revenue & Customs has announced today that the end date for the temporary VAT zero-rating of supplies of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) in connection with coronavirus has been changed from 31 July 2020 to 31 October 2020.
The zero-rate came into effect from 1 May and covers supplies recommended for use in connection with protection from coronavirus in guidance published by Public Health England.
This includes:
o disposable gloves
o disposable plastic aprons
o disposable fluid-resistant coveralls or gowns
o surgical masks – including fluid-resistant type IIR surgical masks
o filtering face piece respirators
o eye and face protection – including single or reusable full-face visors or goggles
We will inform you of any further VAT easements from the Government relevant to the NHS as soon as we hear.
If you have any questions about anything in this alert, please contact us.
HMRC has announced that the introduction of the DRC for construction services will be delayed for a further period of 5 months from 1 October 2020 until 1 March 2021, citing the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the construction sector.
There will also be an amendment to the original legislation, to make it a requirement that for businesses to be excluded from the reverse charge because they are end users or intermediary suppliers, they must inform contractors in writing of this status.
The DRC is an anti-avoidance measure designed to remove the potential scope for VAT on construction services being ‘stolen’ from HMRC by unscrupulous contractors. The measure is designed to shift the accounting for VAT on supplies of construction services in certain circumstances onto the customer rather than the supplier.
NHS bodies are likely to be end-users in the majority of cases and given the requirement to inform contractors of this status, there is no ‘do nothing’ option. You will still need to prepare for implementation from March 2021 and getting this wrong could give rise to penalties. CRS VAT will provide further updates on the DRC and how it affects the NHS in the coming months. This will include working with clients to implement the changes and running seminars.
If you would like to read more, HMRC has published a new Revenue and Customs Brief (7/2020) about this, which can be found here:
Should you have any questions on the DRC and how it will affect your organisation please contact us.
HM Revenue & Customs announced on 30 April a temporary zero-rate of VAT on supplies of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) in connection with coronavirus.
The zero-rate comes into effect from 1 May to 31 July 2020 and covers supplies recommended for use in connection with protection from coronavirus in guidance published by Public Health England.
These supplies are normally subject to VAT at the standard-rate, so this new relief will benefit NHS and other bodies not able to recover VAT on purchases. This puts UK and EU supplies of PPE on a level footing with imports from non-EU countries, which were given temporary VAT and duty relief on 31 March.
The relief has been enacted by a Statutory Instrument which inserts a new Group 20 to Schedule 8 of the VAT Act 1994.
Products covered by the zero rate include:
o disposable gloves
o disposable plastic aprons
o disposable fluid-resistant coveralls or gowns
o surgical masks – including fluid-resistant type IIR surgical masks
o filtering face piece respirators
o eye and face protection – including single or reusable full-face visors or goggles
These temporary changes will not affect the VAT treatment of goods donated by a charity or from charitable funds, which are already zero-rated. The supply of any goods in connection with the provision of care or medical or surgical treatment are also not affected, as such supplies remain exempt from VAT.
Details of the relief can be found here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/revenue-and-customs-brief-4-2020-temporary-vat-zero-rating-of-personal-protective-equipment-ppe/revenue-and-customs-brief-4-2020-temporary-vat-zero-rating-of-personal-protective-equipment-ppe
We will inform you of any further VAT easements from the Government relevant to the NHS as soon as we hear.
HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has today announced some further easements in VAT accounting for the NHS due to the ongoing COVID-19 situation.
Full details of the easements are shown on the attached letter, but to summarise:
COS VAT estimation
It has been recognised that some organisations may not be able to submit accurate COS VAT claims.
Requests for estimations must therefore be made in advance of the due date for the return, with a proposed end date. HMRC accepts that the end date may need amending due to the ongoing uncertainty.
HMRC has suggested the easiest and most reasonable method of estimation will be based on a representative period.
HMRC is still considering estimations for (business) input tax and output tax and will advise further in due course.
6 month COS VAT extension
The annual COS VAT deadline for 2019/20 has been extended from the June 2020 VAT return to the December 2020 VAT return, (filing date 7th February 2021).
This means that COS VAT incurred on invoices dated within 2019/20 can be claimed on any return up to December 2020.
This is a one-off extension, but will be reviewed given the current uncertainty surrounding COVID-19.
HMRC has not made any specific mention of an extension to end-of-year business and partial exemption adjustments, which themselves include end-of-year COS VAT adjustments, but we are awaiting further clarification of this point.
If you have any questions about anything in this alert, please contact us.
The Government is allowing NHS and other state and authorised non-state bodies to pay no import duty and VAT on protective equipment, relevant medical devices or equipment brought into the UK from non-EU countries during the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak.
It is unclear whether this relief will apply to subsidiary companies, but a non-state body can request authorisation by contacting the National Import Relief Unit (NIRU) by emailing niru@hmrc.gov.uk for an application form.
The relief will apply to imports of protective equipment, other relevant medical devices or equipment for the COVID-19 outbreak.
Full details of the relief and the relevant commodity code list you can claim relief on can be found here:
Goods imported into the UK for donation or onward sale to the NHS are also eligible for this relief and can be imported free of import duty and import VAT.
The relief currently applies until 31 July 2020. VAT on domestic supplies is not affected by this relief and VAT will still be charged as normal.
We will inform you of any further VAT easements from the Government relevant to the NHS as soon as we hear.
If you have any questions about anything in this alert, please contact us.
From April 2020 all 206 hospital Trusts in England will be expected to provide free car parking to groups that may be frequent hospital visitors, or those disproportionately impacted by daily or hourly charges for parking, including:
• Blue badge holders
• Frequent outpatients who have to attend regular appointments to manage long-term conditions
Free parking will also be offered at specific times of day to certain groups, including:
• Parents of sick children staying in hospital overnight
• Staff working night shifts
To date, most NHS car parks in England have been used to generate income by the NHS bodies that operate them and this income has been subject to VAT. There have been very few exceptions allowing for free parking. With the changes coming in from April 2020 NHS car parks shall become a mix of fee paying business use subject to VAT and free non-business use. Accordingly when considering VAT on expenditure in relation to car parks, Trusts need to determine if the expenditure relates wholly to taxable business use (e.g. the purchase of a new pay machine) or non-business use (e.g. designated areas for free parking users only).
VAT incurred on wholly business use expenditure shall be recoverable in full as business input tax and VAT on wholly non-business use expenditure shall be determined for recovery under the contracted out services rules (“COS”).
Where the expenditure does not fall wholly as taxable business use or wholly as non-business use and is not recoverable under the COS rules the VAT will be considered as an overhead, to which the amount of deductible VAT by the NHS body shall need to be determined under the Trust’s annual business activities and partial exemption calculation.
The capital goods scheme
The capital goods scheme (“CGS”) is applied to recognise the change in use of certain items of capital expenditure over a number years as there may be variations to the extent that the items are used to make taxable supplies. For construction works costing over £250,000 (excluding VAT) the CGS adjustment period is 10 years.
As the adjustment period is 10 years capital expenditure incurred on car parks completed before 31st March 2010 can be excluded from the change, as the 10 year adjustment period would have passed by the time the new car parking charges have effect.
For capital expenditure on NHS car parks in England falling within the CGS rules, the change of use in car parks from wholly taxable business to partially non-business will trigger CGS adjustments.
For example, suppose a new car park was completed in the 2018/19 financial year for a cost of £1m plus £200k VAT which would have been claimed in full. For the 2019/20 financial year there would be no adjustment as the car park remained wholly taxable business use, but from April 2020 the car park was used consistently for free parking 10% of the time the NHS body would have to repay £2k of the VAT claimed each year over the next 8 years.
In order to determine if your Trust will be impacted by the change in parking charges through the Capital Goods Scheme you should consider:
1. If you have had capital expenditure in relation to car parks costing more than £250k in the last 10 years.
2. Will those who are entitled to free parking use this car park?
3. How will the Trust implement the new car parking charges rules? E.g. dedicated areas or will they park in the same locations?
4. Has the Trust carried out a review to estimate what percentage of car parking use shall be free from April 2020?
If you believe that these changes could affect your Trust, please contact us.
The First Tier Tribunal (FTT) has published its findings in respect of North Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust appeal.
This is encouraging news for NHS Trusts which still have outstanding ‘Fleming’ VAT claims which are dependent upon HMRC accepting ‘entitlement’.
We submitted claims to HMRC on our client’s behalf back in 2009, for various types of overpaid or under recovered VAT dating as far back as 1973. This was following the judgment of the House of Lords in the joined cases of Fleming/Condé Nast in 2008, which found that the way HMRC introduced the capping provisions (back in 1996 and 1997) had been unlawful at the time. These were commonly referred to as the ‘Fleming claims’.
Some of these claims have already been paid in part, in particular those for overpaid catering output tax, but only where HMRC agreed the quantum of the claim and the entitlement from the date of the Trust formation.
Claims for earlier periods were rejected on the grounds that HMRC did not believe the entitlement for earlier periods relating to predecessor NHS bodes was transferred to the Trusts.
Other types of claims were rejected in full, in particular, those for input VAT on drugs and prostheses supplied to private patients, (referred to as Wellington/BUPA VAT claims). This was following the Nuffield FTT decision in 2013 where HMRC’s argument that these claims were invalid was upheld. The Nuffield appeal was the lead case for all appeals against HMRC’s rejection of the drugs and prostheses claims, including NHS appeals.
The North Lincoln and Goole case was the lead case dealing with the question of whether there was a transfer of rights to VAT claims from predecessor bodies to the current NHS Trust.
Therefore, any Trust with an outstanding claim which is dependent upon the entitlement issue could now receive a further VAT refund.
HMRC could still seek to argue that this does not set a precedent, but we will let you know as soon as HMRC’s view of the decision to the wider NHS becomes known. If HMRC does now agree that this decision has wider application for the NHS, we will make arrangements to agree the quantum of the claims now due to our clients.
As most NHS bodies are aware, HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has been actively reviewing the interpretation of the Treasury Direction COS VAT guidance. This is following the aborted attempt earlier this year to impose the more restrictive Government Department (GD) rules on the NHS. At the time, HMRC was forced to back down and instead consult with the NHS before making any changes.
It was originally anticipated that the revised guidance following the consultation would be part-published in November 2014 incorporating both GD and NHS bodies, however, we have now been informed that the publication date has been put back to mid-January 2015.
Specific items which could be subject to change include:
COS Heading 52 – Professional Services
This is likely to be restricted to ‘advice’ or ‘opinion’ only. NHS bodies may no longer be able to recover VAT on consultancy costs for implementing changes, including legal representation or professional fees related to capital projects.
COS Heading 31 – Laboratory Services
Following the GSTS Tribunal decision earlier this year that pathology testing involving patient samples is exempt from VAT, the scope of this heading is being reviewed. This may mean that VAT charged on outsourced laboratory facilities (including equipment, management, reagents, maintenance, training, etc.) may no longer be eligible for recovery under this heading.
COS Heading 45 – Healthcare Facilities
In a letter recently issued to the HFMA, HMRC implied that a ‘healthcare facility’ was a physical building, unit or area within a building which is run/operated by the contractor which enabled the NHS body to occupy the facility to deliver healthcare. This definition would mean that COS heading 45 would still cover PFI hospitals and other similar facilities, but may well exclude managed facility contracts which are heavily based upon the provision and availability of equipment and consumables.
Other areas potentially subject to change include:
COS Heading 10 – Catering Services
This may now be extended to supplies of catering staff.
COS Heading 14 – Computer Services
This may exclude private data lines, which were specifically included in the previous NHS guidance.
Our initial thoughts are that the anticipated changes will significantly restrict the scope for VAT recovery of NHS bodies, many of which are already in serious financial difficulty. We will issue a further update once we have more information.
HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) issued a letter to the NHS in December 2013 stating that the proper tax point (time of supply) rules should be applied to Contracted-out services (COS) VAT recovery. This meant that COS VAT should be claimed on the VAT return for the period in which the invoice is dated, or by the annual deadline at the latest. In the same letter, the annual COS deadline was extended a further month to 31 July.
Historically, NHS bodies have recovered COS VAT on a return relating to either the period in which the invoice is dated (registration), the period the invoice was approval for payment, or the period in which the invoice is paid. This has meant that if an invoice is in dispute, the VAT may not have be claimed until several months or even years after the tax point date.
Following various representations made about the timing of HMRC’s proposed changes and the lack of any transitional period, HMRC has now ‘relaxed’ this tax point rule for the time being. This means that NHS bodies can continue to recover COS VAT at the time an invoice is paid, irrespective of the tax point date.
HMRC has told us that as part of the ongoing review of NHS and Government VAT following the recent publication of interim guidance, further guidance will be issued in the coming months making it compulsory for the NHS to adopt the tax point rules, with a likely start date from April 2015.
We would therefore recommend that the tax point rules are adopted as soon as possible, to ensure that COS VAT on invoices dated prior to April 2014 but not yet approved or paid is not lost. Any NHS body which has already adopted the tax point rules should continue to use this method.
In summary, at present any COS VAT incurred on invoices paid within the 2013/14 financial year must be claimed by the 31 July 2014 deadline irrespective of the tax point. Going forward, it is recommended to adopt the tax point rules as soon as possible to avoid any potential loss of VAT recovery.