VATREVCON33500 - How the construction reverse charge works: End users and intermediary suppliers: Different treatment by qualifying end user and intermediary businesses
The intermediary supplier and end user concepts were created to cater for situations where both the business meeting intermediary criteria and the business meeting end user criteria wanted to be treated as end users. However, they are optional, so in landlord and tenant situations where the businesses might be totally separate in all other respects, there may be situations where they make different decisions.
Example: A landlord buys construction services and makes an onward supply of the same services to the tenant. The landlord qualifies as an intermediary supplier under SI 2019/892 art. 8(1)(b)(ii)(bb) as having an interest in the same land as the expected end user. However, the landlord is not obliged to opt to be an intermediary supplier and can still receive the specified supplies under the reverse charge where the tenant opts to be an end user.