Commissioners of Customs and Excise v Royal and Sun Alliance Insurance Group Plc: ChD 2000

The taxpayer sought to recover tax it had paid on VAT on rents. It had sublet and at first not charged VAT, but later changed its mind and charged VAT. The Commissioners objected to the reclaim for the earlier period.
Held: The tribunal’s conclusion was that the direct and immediate link which was required was missing, but the direct and immediate link was not missing. It considered that the quarterly rental payments which RSA made during the vacant unelected periods secured for it a series of separate inputs, each of which lasted for only three months. The court did not accept this analysis. RSA’s superior lease of each property was one input, not a multiplicity of separate short-term inputs, and all RSA’s payments of rents (including service charge rents) during the vacant unelected periods were cost components of the input.

Judges:

Park J

Citations:

[2000] STC 033

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

CitedB J Rice and Associates (A Firm) v Commissioners of Customs and Excise CA 14-Feb-1996
Liability for VAT was determined at date of supply of services not date of bill. . .

Cited by:

Appeal fromCommissioners of Customs and Excise v Royal and Sun Alliance Insurance Group Plc CA 9-Oct-2001
The respondent sought to deduct input tax from income it received from lettings. It had previously occupied the buildings itself making exempt supplies, but then let them. They later waved their exemption, and sought to deduct input tax for periods . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Landlord and Tenant, VAT

Updated: 23 June 2022; Ref: scu.182509