Summary 

This was an appeal by HMRC to the Upper Tribunal (UT) against a decision of the First-tier Tribunal (FTT) that certain mobile ride-hailing services provided by Bolt as principal fell within the tour operators' margin scheme (TOMS) for VAT purposes. 

Background 

HMRC submitted that: (1) the supplies made by Bolt were not comparable to supplies made by travel agents and tour operators which were typically back-to-back supplies, where a trader buys and resells services without material alteration; and/or (2) the supplies made by Bolt were ‘in-house’ supplies in which the bought-in supplies were combined with Bolt's own resources to produce a separate supply. 

HMRC argued that the FTT erred in several material respects:  

(1) First, the FTT took the view that bought-in supplies would have to be "so changed as to become in-house supplies