10 August 2020 
Andrea Marshall, Tax Specialist
As members are aware, HMRC is currently reviewing and rejecting claims that have already been submitted following the Newscorp case. Where a claim has been rejected, universities (or their advisors) may decide to either:
The rationale for asking that the case is “stood over” is that it keeps a claim open until the Court of Appeal decision is reached, provided that you have previously submitted a protective claim within four years of a VAT return period.
Universities who are submitting their own appeals will need to complete a Notice of Appeal form T240 and attach to it copies of the correspondence with HMRC, including the letter rejecting the claim. An example form T240 is attached. A university should review the wording within sections 17 and 18 carefully to ensure that it reflects the correspondence that it has had with HMRC.
It should be noted that if the Newscorp Court of Appeal case is successful, it does not necessarily mean that any retrospective claim that universities have submitted will be automatically be repaid by HMRC in total.
There are, potentially, three options. Any pre 1 May 2020 zero-rating could:
If HMRC interpret any win from Newscorp as applying solely to newspapers or just to newspapers, journals and periodicals, then it is likely that another appeal will need to be taken to argue for the extension of pre-1 May 2020 zero-rating to other forms of e-publications, such as e-books.
The Newscorp case may not also resolve the issue of databases that contain items with difference VAT liabilities.
BUFDG will continue to update you as this issue evolves.
