08 September 2020 Andrea Marshall, Tax Specialist
HMT has issued a VAT and the Public Sector: Reform to VAT Refund Rules".
This is predominantly aimed at a review of the Contracted-out services rules with one option being that Government Departments, the NHS, etc will be able to reclaim all VAT incurred on goods and services.
BUFDG will be responding to this paper and Andrea would like to pull together a group to discuss this topic ahead of drafting a response. Please contact her if you would like to be involved.
There are clearly advantages to this approach that the HE sector could benefit from, but could there be disadvantages? For example, a member has already raised concerns regarding whether this could create advantages for the NHS when applying for research funding.
As part of our response, we could also ask whether whether the list of organisations that are included within s41. could be increased to include a wider list of "public bodies".