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I remember the chancellor who introduced it (Anthony Barber) opining that VAT was a simple tax. It has become anything but. Is it a cake or a biscuit? Is it a child's shoe or a small adults shoe? Is it a magazine or a book? is it a cost I am undertaking to enable me to advice my client or simply for my client's benefit?
The HMRC Guidance does not, of course, give a definite answer to anything. It is only guidance after all, but it does have an interesting example of Land Registry Search Fees. If you buy copy entries for your client then you do not add VAT (to the princely sum of £3.00). If you read them, and give your client some advice then you add VAT.
That is Jeffrey Shaws a or b point, but it is pretty arcane stuff.
We need a root and branch overhaul of the whole edifice.

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