09 October 2019 
Andrea Marshall, Tax Specialist
A recent VAT case has highlighted the very fine distinction between whether someone is supplying services (which may or may not be subject to VAT, depending on what they are) or is supplying staff (which will almost always be subject to VAT). In the Medacy Pharmacy case the First-tier Tribunal held that Medacy's supplied pharmaceutical services (exempt from VAT) and not staff (standard-rated). Despite the GP practices being billed by the hour, with the GPs responsible for allocating tasks to the Medacy pharmacists/staff, some of the key factors were Medacy worked with GP practices to determine what pharmaceutical services they needed (e.g. outpatient treatment requests and medication reviews), rather than just filling staffing gaps; Medacy had responsibility for clinical decisions taken by its pharmacists (supported by its medical malpractice insurance); and ongoing support was provided by a Senior Pharmacist.
