Who it is for
Can English language and pre-sessional providers reclaim VAT?
Short answer
Sometimes. English as a foreign language taught by a commercial provider is already exempt in UK law, so VAT should not normally have been charged on it. Where VAT has been charged on pre-sessional English, English for academic purposes or TEFL, for example when the teaching was invoiced to a university or sat inside a pathway or foundation programme, some of it may be reclaimable. Which route applies depends on who supplied whom, so each arrangement needs checking.
What we mean by English language courses
- Pre-sessional English taught before a degree starts, often for a named university.
- English for academic purposes, before or during a course.
- English built into international foundation and pathway programmes.
- General English as a foreign language, also called TEFL or EFL.
Three ways VAT may have been overpaid
1. The existing EFL rule
A commercial provider of English as a foreign language counts as an eligible body for its EFL teaching, so that teaching is exempt. Its other courses stay standard-rated. If VAT was charged on EFL teaching, that may be an error under rules HMRC already accepts, which does not depend on the Supreme Court appeal. How the rule applies where you taught for a university, rather than selling courses to the students, needs checking against your agreement.
2. Pathway and foundation programmes
Where English is part of an international foundation or pathway programme, the programme as a whole may be comparable to foundation years that universities teach VAT free. That is the St Patrick's route: judged from the student's side, the same course should be taxed the same way. HMRC is appealing it.
3. The point the court left open
Interactive Manchester, one of the colleges in the case, taught TEFL as well as HNCs, HNDs and degrees. It argued that as a TEFL provider it should be treated as an eligible body for all of its education, not only the English. The tribunals disagreed and the Court of Appeal did not need to decide the point, because the colleges won on another ground. It matters most for colleges that teach both English and other courses.
Who was your customer?
English language teaching for universities is arranged in different ways. Under some agreements the provider invoices the university for teaching. Under others the students pay the provider, or the university collects fees and passes them on. The agreement and the payment flows decide who your customer was, and that affects how a claim is worked out and how HMRC looks at unjust enrichment. It is the first thing our VAT specialist looks at.
When it probably does not apply
- The English centre is part of the university itself, which is already an eligible body.
- No VAT was charged or accounted for on the English teaching.
- The courses are business English sold to employers that recovered the VAT.
Providers that teach English and other courses
A provider that teaches both English and other courses makes a mix of exempt and taxable supplies. It becomes partly exempt, and the partial exemption rules decide how much input tax it can recover. Getting the split right matters for any claim for past periods and for your VAT returns from now on. See input tax and partial exemption.
Why the timing matters
Claims only reach back four years from the end of each VAT period. Where a claim relies on the St Patrick's ruling, the Supreme Court is unlikely to decide HMRC's appeal before 2028, and the oldest periods fall out of time every month in the meantime. See why claim now.
Sources
- VAT Notice 701/30, commercial providers of English as a foreign language: GOV.UK
- VAT Act 1994 Schedule 9 Group 6 and its Notes: legislation.gov.uk
- First-tier Tribunal [2023] UKFTT 408 (TC) and Upper Tribunal [2025] UKUT 101 (TCC) on the EFL-only limit: caselaw.nationalarchives.gov.uk
- St Patrick's International College Ltd & Ors v HMRC [2026] EWCA Civ 852: caselaw.nationalarchives.gov.uk
- Revenue and Customs Brief 9 (2026): GOV.UK