In our tax case round up this month, we have picked out two cases. The first does not concern a charity but it is of interest to members who are experiencing delays with HMRC. In this case, Sammy Garden Ltd v HMRC [2025] UKFTT 274 (TC), HMRC had been glacially slow in processing an application for VAT registration. The taxpayer had assumed that they did not need to charge VAT until their registration came through. Whilst the FTT sympathised with the taxpayer, they had to impose the statutory time limits for charging VAT, resulting in a substantial bill for the taxpayer. This shows that relying on poor service levels from HMRC is no excuse for non-compliance.

Our second case will be of interest to those charities providing education and relying on the exemption in schedule 9. The Upper Tribunal agreed once again with the HMRC that St Patrick’s College and Others were not eligible bodies, and so could not exempt their supplies of education. The case is very fact specific but is worth a read.