I’m the treasurer for the local badminton club. The council run sports hall we use have said that there are changes to VAT rules regarding clubs and court hire. We meet all the criteria to not have to pay VAT, but the council say that we also have to pay for courts in advance otherwise that will make the hire liable to VAT too. Myself and teasurers from other clubs think this is dangly gentleman vegetables and that we should be able to carry on paying I arrears and it’s just the council after money up front. Does anybody here know if they are right or wrong and can they point me in the direction of the appropriate legislation?

Thanks

I’m not an expert on VAT, especially not obscure VAT exemptions, and even less on upcoming changes – but I do have some experience of VAT and can’t think of any other situation where goods or service are provided and the time of payment affects the VAT status of the supply.

Surely the VAT is payable at the time of invoice, something VAT exempt wil VAT exempt whenever. Same must apply to VAT exempt organisations.

Not an expert on VAT but I pay a lot of it and have found the HMRC helpline very useful. Number on their website.

Another non expert here, but a possibility is that if you pay for the court in advance, it may be considered a donation. Probably only applicable if the sports centre is a charity though – grasping at straws a bit really tbh.

Found it. They are wrong!

http://customs.hmrc.gov.uk/channelsPortalWebApp/channelsPortalWebApp.portal?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=pageVAT_ShowContent&propertyType=document&columns=1&id=HMCE_CL_000154#P183_17839

This is the key bit:

the series is to be paid for as a whole and there is written evidence to the fact. This must include evidence that payment is to be made in full whether or not the right to use the facility for any specific session is actually exercised. Provision for a refund given by the provider in the event of the unforeseen non-availability of their facility would not affect this condition.

No mention of when payment should be made, just that the booking is paid in one go

As it states that the payment must be made in full but I don’t know of any council that takes payment after an event has taken place due to the problem of late or non payment. To that effect you would need to pay for all sessions at the start of first one.

Just call the HMRC VAT helpline. They will advise.