Macaw Properties Limited v The Commissioners for Her Majesty's Revenue & Customs, TC 01863
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Judge | John L WALTERS QC |
| Judgment Date | 01 March 2012 |
| Neutral Citation | [2012] UKFTT 167 (TC) |
| Respondent | The Commissioners for Her Majesty's Revenue & Customs |
| Appellant | Macaw Properties Limited |
| Reference | TC 01863 |
| Court | First-tier Tribunal (Tax Chamber) |
[2012] UKFTT 167 (TC)
TC01863
Appeal numbers: TC/2009/13822
TC/2010/05183
TC/2010/07643
VALUE ADDED TAX – whether tax on supplies was input tax on the basis
that it was tax on goods or services to be used for the purpose of a business
to be carried on by the Appellant – whether (and when) the Appellant had
formed the intention of carrying on a business – Rompelman v Minister van
Financïen considered and applied – declared intention by the Appellant that
it had formed the intention on the acquisition of an historic estate – whether
(and from when) there was objective evidence to support such declared
intention – evidence considered – appeal allowed in part
FIRST-TIER TRIBUNAL
TAX CHAMBER
MACAW PROPERTIES LIMITED Appellant
- and -
THE COMMISSIONERS FOR HER MAJESTY’S
REVENUE AND CUSTOMS (Value Added Tax) Respondents
TRIBUNAL: JOHN WALTERS QC
SONIA GABLE
Sitting in public in London on 26, 27 and 28 October 2011
Rupert Baldry QC and Oliver Conolly, Counsel, instructed by Smith & Williamson
LLP, for the Appellant
Denis Edwards, Counsel, instructed by the Solicitor for HMRC, for the Respondents
© CROWN COPYRIGHT 2012
2
DECISION
1. The Tribunal heard a consolidated appeal against an assessment raised by the 5 Respondents (“HMRC”) on the appellant, Macaw Properties Limited (“Macaw”)
on 6 August 2009 in the sum of £199,537 to recover amounts paid to Macaw as
input tax for the VAT periods 06/08 to 09/08 inclusive and HMRC’s decisions to
refuse input tax claims made by Macaw as follows: for the VAT period 12/08 in
the sum of £33,225.14; for the VAT period 03/09 in the sum of £16,653.00; for 10 the VAT period 06/09 in the sum of £28,214.26; for the VAT period 09/09 in the
sum of £76,919.70; for the VAT period 12/09 in the sum of £14,608.58; for the
VAT period 03/10 in the sum of £11,444.24; and for the VAT period 06/10 in the
sum of £41,324.23. In total £421,926.15 of VAT is in issue.
2. Macaw was incorporated in 1999. Its ultimate parent company is St. Ledger 15 Investments Limited (“St. Ledger”), whose shareholders are three brothers,
Marcus, Paul and Giles Newbold (to whom we shall refer by their respective first
names). They are the sons of Clifford Newbold (“Clifford”) and his wife, Dorothy
Newbold (“Dorothy”). Paul, Giles and Clifford are the directors of Macaw.
Marcus is an employee of Macaw. 20
3. The purpose of the incorporation of Macaw in 1999 was that it should acquire
the freehold of Wentworth Woodhouse and its estate of some 83 acres. The estate
included a mansion house, Wentworth Woodhouse (“the Main House”), a stable
block incorporating an indoor riding school (“the Stable Block”) and some college
buildings (“the College Buildings”) as well as some smaller structures, including a 25 camellia house (“the Camellia House”), gardens and parkland. The purchase price
was £2.1 million and carried no VAT, the supply pursuant to which the estate was
purchased being exempt for VAT purposes.
4. The Main House is an extremely large mansion house dating from the early
18th century. It is of the highest architectural quality and historical importance, 30 being Grade 1 listed. The evidence of Christopher Cotton, the architect called as a
witness by Macaw (see below), is that the Main House contains over 25 rooms of
the very highest order, which contrasts with 20 such rooms in each of
Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle, 8 such rooms in Blenheim Palace and 3
such rooms in Castle Howard. The Main House has the longest formally designed 35 house façade in the country (the East Front). At the time of its acquisition by
Macaw, however, it was on the “Buildings At Risk” register maintained by
English Heritage, because of its state of relative dilapidation.
5. The Stable Block is also an extremely large structure, also dating from the 18th
century and also of great architectural and historical importance, and also Grade 1 40 listed.
6. The College Buildings are relatively modern (having been constructed since
the Second World War) and are of no architectural or historical importance.
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