The Commissioners for Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs v Colaingrove Limited
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Judge | MR JUSTICE HILDYARD |
| Judgment Date | 10 March 2015 |
| Neutral Citation | [2015] UKUT 0080 (TCC) |
| Respondent | COLAINGROVE LIMITED |
| Appellant | CUSTOMS |
| Court | Upper Tribunal (Tax and Chancery Chamber) |
| Appeal Number | FTC/58/2013 |
[2015] UKUT 0080 (TCC)
Appeal number FTC/58/2013
VALUE ADDED TAX - supplies of holiday accommodation and power by the operator of a holiday camp to
customers taking short term holidays in static caravans or chalets - separate charges in respect of the
accommodation and power - but the charge for power was irrespective of actual use and did not relate to the
power consumed by the customer concerned - no appeal from finding that in economic terms the provision of
power was part of a single complex supply of serviced holiday accommodation - whether on the basis of
European Commission v France (Case C-94/09) the UK was entitled to legislate to provide for the reduced rate
of VAT to apply to supplies of domestic fuel or power even in a case where such supplies formed an element in a
large single complex supply which was not a supply of domestic fuel of power - interplay of that case with the
Card Protection Plan jurisprudence (Case C349/96) - whether section 29A and Group 1, Schedule 7A, VATA
provided for the reduced rate of VAT to apply to the charge made in respect of power in this case - held that it
did not and that the standard rate of VAT must be applied to the entire single complex supply - appeal from the
FTT allowed
UPPER TRIBUNAL (TAX AND CHANCERY CHAMBER)
THE COMMISSIONERS FOR HER MAJESTY’S REVENUE AND
CUSTOMS Appellants
- and -
COLAINGROVE LIMITED
Respondent
TRIBUNAL: MR JUSTICE HILDYARD
Sitting in public at The Royal Courts of Justice, The Rolls Building, Fetter Lane,
London EC4A 1NL on 18 & 19 June 2014
Jeremy Hyam, instructed by the General Counsel and Solicitor to HM Revenue and
Customs, for the Appellant
Roderick Cordara QC, instructed by PWC Legal LLP, for the Respondents
© CROWN COPYRIGHT 2015
2
DECISION
1. This appeal from a decision of the First Tier Tribunal, Tax Chamber (“the
FTT”) concerns a question which has recently been raised in various contexts
in different cases: that is, whether section 29A and Group 1, Schedule 7A of
the VAT Act 1994 (“the VAT Act”), on their true construction, provide for the 5 application of reduced rates of VAT to particular elements of a single supply
which would otherwise be taxed at the standard rate. The question has
received different answers.
2. The supply in question in this case was made by Colaingrove Limited
(“Colaingrove”), or by other companies within the Bourne Leisure Group 10 Limited VAT group of which Colaingrove is part. Colaingrove or such other
companies1 provide serviced chalets and static caravans at holiday parks which
they own or operate in the UK.
3. The particular question in this appeal is whether the provision of electricity as
part of the supply by Colaingrove to certain promotional users of its serviced 15 chalets and static caravans (see paragraphs [13] to [20] below) is to be taxed at
a reduced rate of Value Added Tax (“VAT”), notwithstanding that (as is no
longer disputed) the charge for electricity is an element of a single complex
supply of serviced accommodation, and the supply of serviced accommodation
falls to be taxed at the standard rate. 20
4. This appeal in fact relates to and consolidates three appeals to and from the
FTT (Tribunal Judges John Walters QC and John Robinson). One appeal
relates to the refusal by Her Majesty’s Commissioners for Revenue and
Customs (“HMRC”) to repay VAT of £129,743 claimed pursuant to a
voluntary disclosure by Colaingrove dated 23 December 2002. The second 25 relates to an assessment in the sum of £941,650 in respect of output tax made
on 4 January 2007 in respect of the periods 12/03 to 09/08. The third relates to
the refusal by HMRC of a claim for repayment of VAT of £691,891.38 made
by Colaingrove on 7 December 2010. All three appeals raise the same issues.
Brief summary of the rival contentions 30
5. HMRC have throughout contended that (a) Colaingrove provides and charges
for electricity as part and parcel of its supply of fully serviced holiday
accommodation to the relevant promotional users; (b) the whole should be
treated as a composite or fused single supply; (c) there is no provision in the
1 Colaingrove has been treated throughout as the representative member of that VAT Group; and in this
decision (as in the decision of the FTT) a reference to “Colaingrove” should be r ead as a reference to
the relevant supplier company in that VAT Group.
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