Interpretation and Application of VAT Notice 701/6

Dear HMRC, We are seeking guidance on the interpretation and application of “Charity funded equipment for medical and veterinary uses (VAT Notice 701/6).” We are a legally recognized charity (a university) intending to purchase a multitude of goods and services for use in medical and veterinary research. Specifically, we are interested in whether cloud services provided by Microsoft Azure can be zero-rated for VAT under this notice. The cloud services from Microsoft Azure will be used to host and manage a data platform, facilitate data storage, and support the development of analytical tools crucial for our research objectives (in medical and veterinary research). Given that our project is directly funded by charitable donations and serves a qualifying purpose in medical and veterinary research, we believe these cloud services should be eligible for zero-rating. However, we seek clarification on the following points: 1. Eligibility of Cloud Services: Can cloud services (e.g. virtual servers, cloud storage, networking, etc.), such as those provided by Microsoft Azure, be considered as qualifying goods/services under VAT Notice 701/6 when used directly for medical and veterinary research purposes? The notice specifically includes "servers" as eligible equipment, and we interpret cloud services as the modern-day equivalent of physical servers. 2. Declaration and Documentation: What specific documentation or declarations are required to ensure that these cloud services are zero-rated for VAT purposes? 3. Supplier Compliance: How should we communicate with our supplier (Microsoft Azure) to ensure they apply zero-rating VAT correctly for these services? We would appreciate your guidance on these matters to ensure compliance and proper application of VAT zero-rating for our research project. Thank you for your assistance.

Cookies on Community Forums