In C Huhtala v HMRC (TC00700 – 12 October) a freelance journalist and author (H) decided to write a book entitled ‘A Year on a Pontoon’. He claimed a deduction for expenses of £10 000 incurred in moving a boat which he owned to southern France and living there for a year. HMRC rejected the claim on the basis that the expenditure had not been wholly and exclusively incurred for the purpose of his profession as an author but was partly incurred for personal reasons. H appealed. The First-tier Tribunal dismissed his appeal finding that ‘the expenses incurred had a duality of purpose’. H and his wife had ‘used the boat as their home and a place of sleep’ so that the expenses were not ‘wholly and exclusively’ for the purpose of H’s business.
Why it matters: There is a surprising dearth of case law on...
