Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom

Key definition

Supply of services definition

What does Supply of services mean? In practice, a supply of services is any transaction where a person provides something other than goods—such as work performed, rights granted, or facilities made available—in return for consideration. In UK VAT law (Value Added Tax Act 1994, s.5) and Irish VAT law (VAT Consolidation Act 2010), anything done for consideration that is not a supply of goods is a supply of services, unless legislation treats it as neither a supply of goods nor of services. VAT is chargeable on supplies of services, subject to exemptions, zero‑rating or outside‑scope treatment. Key legal features include: the requirement for consideration (payments unconnected with...

UK VAT treatment of staffing arrangements: supply of staff versus introductions, employment bureaux, secondments, valuation and place/time of supply, exemptions and key case law

Published by a LexisNexis Tax expert

Practice notes

This Practice Note reviews the VAT position where staff are supplied in the course or furtherance of a business. It is essential to determine whether there is a supply of staff, an introduction to staff, or a service delivered using staff, as each is treated differently for VAT. This distinction is particularly important for employment bureaux, whose activities may involve supplying staff and/or providing introductions to staff in different parts of the business...

What is a supply of staff for VAT purposes?

HMRC indicates that a business makes a supply of staff for VAT purposes when, for consideration, it grants another party the use of an individual who is either:

contractually employed or otherwise engaged by the first business; or
a director of the company

For VAT, it is immaterial whether the individual’s employment or engagement is evidenced by a formal contract, a letter of appointment, or a less formal arrangement. The crucial point is that the staff supplied are not contractually...

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Web page updated on 22/05/2026

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