Company Registrations Online Limited v Her Majesty's Revenue & Customs

Facts

Company Registrations Online Limited provided an extensive range of corporate services, mainly to solicitors and accountants but also directly to the public. The service in issue was its online company formation service, sold in packages falling into two categories: the "Premier" service, which supplied a tailor made company to the customer's precise specification, and the "Base" service, which supplied an off-the-shelf company for the customer to adapt. Within each category the customer chose the package according to the format of the documentation required — hard copy or CD — and the number of copies of the Memorandum and Articles of Association. The price list quoted a single VAT-inclusive price per package, but the invoice split the charge, separating out the copies of the Memorandum and Articles, which the company zero rated as printed material, together with a £20 disbursement for the Companies House fee, the balance being charged as a standard rated service. The Commissioners for Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs decided, by a letter dated 21 March 2005, that the company was making a single standard rated supply of a company formation service rather than separate supplies. The company appealed to the VAT and Duties Tribunal at Manchester, where oral evidence was given by Mr Phillip Vibrans, its managing director and sole shareholder, and by Mr Brian Horton, the officer whose decision it was.