The thorny issue of what is insurance intermediation for VAT purposes has come once more into the spotlight in Royal Bank of Scotland v HMRC [2012] EWHC 9 (Ch). Could this case benefit from a new review by the Tribunal of comparable exemptions conferred in pre-brokered packaged insurance arrangements applying the principles of neutrality developed in HMRC v Rank Group Plc (Case C-259/10)?
In the RBS case the Tribunal and High Court have both stated that future consideration after the original sale of Prudential’s general insurance portfolio to Winterthur Switzerland could not be a transfer of going concern as that was a non-VAT registered person.
RBS (previously Winterthur)...
