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NHS Trusts: VAT

Asked by Neil Duncan-JordanLabourDepartment of Health and Social CareTabled Answered 11 July 2025UIN 65197

The question

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to issue new guidance to NHS Trusts advising them not to set up wholly owned subsidiary companies to avoid paying VAT.

Answered by Karin Smyth

The current NHS England guidance dated February 2024, titled Guidance for assuring and supporting complex change – subsidiaries guidance for trusts forming or changing a subsidiary, sets out the VAT position of wholly owned subsidiaries and confirms that “the commercial rationale is not dependent on the subsidiary enabling a VAT treatment that differs from the trust’s current arrangements”.

There are no plans for this guidance to be updated.

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