Yourway Transport Limited v The Commissioners for HMRC
Decision date: 14 January 2026
Neutral citation: [2026] UKFTT 94 (TC)
Overall AI summary confidence: high
Short overview
This short overview is intended to summarise the case, issues and outcome so far as they are supported by the judgment.
AI confidence in this short overview: high
This case concerned whether Yourway Transport Ltd could recover import VAT paid on investigational medicinal products it imported and supplied for clinical trials. The Tribunal held that s47(1) VATA treated the Appellant as principal, so import VAT was recoverable for drugs sent from the UK to other EU Member States, but not recoverable for drugs that remained in the UK or were exported outside the EU; a public‑law legitimate‑expectation claim failed.
Ratio decidendi
This summary is intended to identify the ratio decidendi, meaning the legal reasons for deciding and the binding part of the decision.
AI confidence in this ratio decidendi summary: high
Where an agent imports goods and, acting in its own name, effects supply of those goods to recipients in other Member States, the domestic deeming provision s47(1) can treat the agent as the principal for VAT purposes so that input VAT on the import is treated as incurred by the agent and is recoverable (the statutory deeming can satisfy the direct and immediate link between the import VAT and the agent’s taxable supplies).
Obiter dicta
This summary is intended to identify obiter dicta, meaning observations made by the way that were not necessary to deciding the case and are not binding.
AI confidence in this obiter dicta summary: medium
The Tribunal suggested that cases where an importer never acts as agent supplying in its own name may be distinguishable from situations governed by a deeming provision that creates a different legal character for VAT purposes; it also observed that describing the link between input and output as a mere “cost component” is unhelpful and must be applied with regard to factual commercial contexts.