Input tax credit on estate agents' services allowed where the taxpayer obtained and controlled the services for its business.

Services may be treated as supplied to a taxable person for input tax purposes even where a third party also benefits, if the claimant obtained contractual rights and control over the work for consideration in the course of business. The decisive inquiry is what the taxpayer received in return for payment, not whether the services can be linked only to a later taxable transaction. On those facts, estate agents' fees were input tax attributable to the taxpayer and the deduction was allowable.

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Issues: Whether estate agents' services arranged and paid for under the house-sale incentive scheme were supplied to the taxpayer for the purposes of input tax credit, even though the same services also benefited the prospective purchasers.

Analysis: Input tax under the statutory scheme is tax on supplies made to the taxable person and used for the purposes of the business. A supply of services arises where something is done for consideration, and the identity of the recipient cannot be determined by a supposed direct and immediate link with a later taxable transaction alone. The decisive question is what the taxpayer obtained in return for the payment: here, the taxpayer chose the agents, instructed them, controlled their performance, and obtained contractual rights to have the properties valued, marketed, and advanced towards sale. The services were therefore rendered to the taxpayer, although they also incidentally benefited the purchasers. The earlier authority on direct and immediate link concerned attribution to taxable or exempt supplies and did not deny deductibility where the services were in truth supplied to the claimant.

Conclusion: The estate agents' fees constituted input tax creditable by the taxpayer, and the deduction was allowable.

Ratio Decidendi: For input tax purposes, services may be supplied to a taxable person even if they also benefit a third party, and the relevant inquiry is whether the claimant obtained something of value for consideration in the course of its business, not whether the services can be described as directly and immediately linked to a particular end transaction.

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