Marcus Webb Golf Professional v Commissioners for Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs
Decision date: 29 December 2009
Neutral citation: [2009] UKFTT 388 (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 appeal challenged HMRC's denial of repayment claims and their view that certain golf tuition supplied by an employed instructor was not VAT-exempt under item 2 of Group 6 (implementing Article 13A(1)(j) Sixth Directive). The Tribunal held that the Directive’s wording "given privately by teachers" requires the teacher to act independently of an employer (i.e. be self‑employed), so tuition supplied by the Appellant’s employee did not qualify for the exemption. The Tribunal also held that UK law correctly transposes the Directive and that HMRC may rely on the three‑year repayment cap. The appeal was dismissed.
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
The Directive’s phrase that tuition be "given privately by teachers" limits the VAT exemption to tuition supplied by teachers acting on their own account and at their own risk (self‑employed/independent of an employer); fiscal neutrality cannot be used to widen the exemption to include identical tuition provided by employed teachers.
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 observed that the contractual relationship for private tuition need not be directly between teacher and pupil and may involve third parties (for example, parents), and that while exemptions are to be interpreted strictly they should be applied consistently with their objectives and fiscal neutrality only within the text’s limits.