Sizing up the competition: Northumbria Healthcare and the public authority VAT exemption

In Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust v Revenue and Customs [2022] UKUT 267 (TCC) the Upper Tribunal (UT) has issued an important judgment in a case where the taxpayer asserted that it made supplies under a ‘special legal regime’ pursuant to article 13 of the Principal VAT Directive as implemented by VATA 1994 s 41A.

In that case the taxpayer was an NHS trust which argued that its supplies of car parking were made under such a regime. Cases valued at some £70m in VAT were stayed behind the case. The trust argued before the First-tier Tribunal (FTT) that the special legal regime consisted of the NHS Act 2006 the contract under which the trust was engaged and guidance issued by the NHS and Department of Health. The FTT...