TC09497 - [2025] UKFTT 00460 (TC)

Mr Khokar submitted that in the context of GM’s supplies the consumer perception test was not the appropriate test and instead a different test should be used to characterise the supplies. He submitted that instead of the consumer perception test, the characterisation of these supplies should be made using a functional analysis, citing as authority Procter & Gamble UK v Revenue and Customs Commissioners [2008] EWHC 1558 (Ch) and Customs and Excise Commissioners v Ferrero UK Ltd [1997] STC 881.

We were not persuaded that these cases were authority for that proposition. But in case we were wrong on that point we considered what would the outcome be if a functional test were to be applied. We considered that the function of the ConquerMaths product was to increase the understanding of the user’s knowledge of maths through carrying out [the diagnostic tests and reviewing the results. Accordingly, even if we were wrong in applying the consumer perception test and, as submitted by Mr Khokar, the correct test to apply was some sort of functional test, or test based on the perception of a maths tutor, we would still have found that the supply was not an examination service.

Accordingly, on any of the tests we were encouraged to use, the product was not in our judgment an examination service.