Summary 

The appeal to the First-tier Tribunal (FTT) was against three decisions by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) that the appellant’s supplies were standard-rated rather than zero-rated. HMRC argued that VAT was due on supplies of drugs to outpatients where the drugs were administered by healthcare professionals from a different legal entity to the supplier. 

Background 

The appellant was a pharmacy attached to, and a subsidiary of, the Clatterbridge Cancer Hospital, an NHS trust. In 2013, the trust incorporated the appellant as its subsidiary with the intention that it would undertake the business of operating a pharmacy dispensing qualifying goods to outpatients of the trust to improve the service to its patients. 

This case was concerned with the dispensing of particular medication to particular patients of the trust, namely those patients who receive intravenous and injectable