The Vaccine Research Ltd Partnership and Another v The Commissioners for HM Revenue and Customs
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Judge | Lord Justice Floyd |
| Judgment Date | 15 October 2015 |
| Neutral Citation | [2015] EWCA Civ 1276 |
| Date | 15 October 2015 |
| Court | Court of Appeal (Civil Division) |
| Docket Number | A3/2014/4267 |
[2015] EWCA Civ 1276
IN THE COURT OF APPEAL (CIVIL DIVISION)
ON APPEAL FROM THE UPPER TRIBUNAL
(TAX AND CHANCERY CHAMBER)
Royal Courts of Justice
Strand
London WC2A 2LL
Lord Justice Floyd
A3/2014/4267
Mr J Maugham QC (instructed by Berwin Leighton Paisner LLP) appeared on behalf of the Applicants
The Respondent did not appear and was not represented
This is a renewed application for permission to appeal from the decision of the Upper Tribunal (Tax and Chancery Chamber) (Sales J and Judge Julian Ghosh QC) dated 2 September 2014. By the decision the Upper Tribunal dismissed an appeal from the First Tier Tribunal (Tax)(Judge David Williams and Ms S O'Neill)dated 27 December 2012. That decision, amongst other matters, declined to allow capital allowances, except in relation to a small part, to the partners in the Vaccine Research Partnership, which is the applicant. The ground given was that the sums in question were not expended on research and development, and were therefore not qualifying expenditure within the meaning of the Capital Allowances Act 2001.
This is therefore a second appeal and I can only give permission if the appeal would raise some important point of principle or practice or there are other compelling reasons why this court should hear the appeal. Permission was refused on the papers by Kitchin LJ on 23 February 2015.
The issues arose against the background of a scheme which is fully described in the judgment of the Upper Tribunal; see paragraphs 8 to 34. Those paragraphs also describe the factual findings made by the FTT in respect of the scheme. Reduced to its absolute essentials, the FTT found that, of the £193 million paid by the partnership to a company called Numology Limited, £114 million was the maximum amount that was available for research and development. Out of that sum some £86 million had been paid to secure so-called guaranteed royalty payments which were ultimately used to fund loans to the partners, and £14 million had been paid in fees, leaving only £14...
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