Expert advice on the recent VAT tribunal, which found that in some cases livery services are exempt from VAT
AJ: No. Livery services, considered by themselves, are standard rated, and always have been so.
AJ: Because in that case there were two servicesbeing supplied, stabling and livery, and on those facts the livery services were “ancillary” to the “main” service, which was the stabling.
AJ: The supply of stabling allowedthe owner a specific part of the stables in which to keep the horse. That was a supply of a right over land.
AJ: Yes, unless the supplier has “opted to tax” the land (in which case, the supply of stabling would be standard rated).
AJ: Usually, a supply is “ancillary” to another supply if the customer does not regard it as an end in itself; the ancillary supply is only there “for the better enjoyment” of the main supply.
AJ: Yes,that is what the Tribunal found.
AJ: Take good advice from an accountant who really understands your business – and who knows about VAT!
Read the full report in this week’s Horse & Hound (14 February 2002), or click here to subscribe.