VATPOSS01350 - Introduction: What is a ‘relevant business person’?

For many of the place of supply rules it is important to establish whether a supply of services is made to a relevant business person (B2B) or non-business customer (B2C).

A supply is treated as B2B where the customer is a relevant business person. A person is a relevant business person in relation to a supply of services if:

(a) the person carries on a business, and

(b) the services are not received by the person wholly for private purposes,

whether or not the services are received in the course of business.

Full details of the steps that a UK VAT registered person needs to make to determine whether their customer is a relevant business person are contained in Notice 741A, section 6.

Some recipients of a service may have non-business activities (such as charities or local government bodies) but these are still treated as B2B supplies where the customer meets the above conditions, even if the service relates to their non-business activities.