From January 2025, independent schools will be subject to 20% VAT, leading to much head-scratching by school bursars. Writing in this week’s NLJ, Liz Brownsell, partner & head of charities at Birketts, and Kieran Smith, VAT partner at Crowe UK, look at a variety of options independent schools might consider to make the best of the situation.
Brownsell and Smith advise avoiding the ‘risky strategy’ of searching for loopholes, as this could lead the school into a trap—'since VAT is self-assessing, for any schools seeking to rely on any perceived “loopholes”, there will be a four-year wait to see whether HMRC raises an assessment’.
Instead, they identify some quick wins or ways to save, before exploring several avenues and scenarios for minimising the tax take.RELATED ARTICLES
