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VAT Information Sheet 6/99, March 1999

This Information Sheet provides guidance on—

1. ��

   —�������� the liability of routine domestic tasks provided by charities (or public bodies) on a not-for-profit basis; and

2. ��

   —�������� the conditions which must be met to qualify for exemption.

1 Background

“Welfare services” includes “the provision of care … designed to promote the physical or mental welfare of elderly, sick, distressed or disabled persons”. Before the 1998 VAT tribunal decision in Watford Help in the Home Service [Watford and District Old People's Housing Association Ltd v C & E Comrs (1998) VAT Decision 15660 unreported], Customs took the view that “care” meant “personal care”, that is, services such as bathing, feeding or dressing a patient. This view was based on a much earlier tribunal decision in Crothall & Company [[1973] VATTR 20].

We excluded domestic help services, such as cooking or cleaning, from exemption because they were not in themselves “care” services.

2 Watford Help in the Home Service tribunal decision

In