Education Sector: Catering Contracts:

There has been a theme emerging around the structure and management for VAT purposes of catering contracts. Key to this issue is the nature of the actual contract entered into with a third party catering firm and whether it is they who are acting as the principal in making the supply of catering to users or whether they are acting as the agent of the education establishment in delivering those services.

The next layer of concern is the clarity or sometimes lack of clarity in the format of invoices passing between the parties and how the VAT elements noted on these are being picked up and processed by staff within the Accounts Payable Teams. There is a Memorandum of Understanding on the matter agreed between HMRC and the Catering Industry which we ran through at our recent Annual VAT Forums for University and Colleges. If you weren’t able to make these events and would like to discuss this or any other matter, please do give Louise Gray a call (01633 415390) or contact Louise by email  louise.gray@centurionvat.com