A five-year battle against HM Revenue & Customs has finally been won by BDO Stoy Hayward and its client Insurancewide.com, following a High Court judgment. This means Insurancewide will not be required to pay VAT on internet based insurance commissions. The debate was over whether the services provided by Insurancewide were insurance intermediation services or just advertising. As it stands, commissions that are paid to insurance agents and brokers are exempt from VAT, whereas advertising based businesses are required to pay VAT. Insurancewide argued it was being singled out, as its competitors were not being made to pay VAT on website based insurance sales. Tax partner at BDO Tom Kivlehan, said: 'After five long years of dialogue and litigation with HMRC, we have finally achieved justice for our client.'