Balhousie: VAT on sale and leaseback arrangements

In Balhousie Holdings Ltd v HMRC [2021] UKSC 11 (reported in Tax Journal 7 April 2021) the Supreme Court has provided the final instalment in the long-running appeal relating to the application of the self-supply charge (at VATA 1994 Sch 10 para 25–37) to the sale and leaseback of land. The Supreme Court’s judgment follows on from the decision of the Court of Session in 2019 ([2019] CSIH 7) and the decision of the CJEU in Mydibel SA v Belgium (Case C-201/18) which was released shortly after the 2019 decision. The CJEU in contrast to the Court of Session acknowledged the composite nature of sale and leaseback transactions and chose to view the arrangements in aggregate rather than by reference to each of its constituent elements for VAT...