EMERCHANTPAY Ltd v Revenue & Customs (VAT Whether supplies made by the Appellant are properly categorised as financial intermediation...)

VAT. Whether supplies made by the Appellant are properly categorised as financial intermediation and, therefore, exempt under Item 5, Group 5 of Schedule 9 to the Value Added Tax Act 1994. Volker Ludwig v Finanzamt Luckenwalde (Case C-453/05) & CSC Financial Services [2001] ECRI-10237 considered. Held: the Appellant�s supplies are exempt.

For the Appellant:�������� Ms. Hui Ling McCarthy QC of counsel & Ms. Sarah Black of counsel, instructed by Grant Thornton UK LLP

For the Respondents: �� Ms. Eleni Mitrophanous QC of counsel, instructed by the General Counsel and Solicitor to HM Revenue and Customs

             This hearing was conducted remotely by video. Prior notice of the hearing had been published on the gov.uk website, with information about how representatives of the media or members of the public could apply to join the hearing remotely in order to observe the proceedings.� As such, the hearing was held in public.

             The Appellant (�EMPL�) and emerchant OOD (�EMPO�) are in the same corporate group, the eMerchantPay Group (�the Group�). EMPO is a Bulgarian company and EMPL is incorporated and resident, for tax purposes, in the UK.