Capital Air Services Ltd v HMRC

In Capital Air Services Ltd v HMRC (Upper Tribunal – 12 October) a company claimed input tax on the purchase and chartering of a helicopter. HMRC rejected the claim and the company appealed. The company made a preliminary application for the appeal to be categorised as a ‘complex case’ within Tribunal Procedure (First-Tier Tribunal) (Tax Chamber) Rules SI 2009/273 rule 23(2)(d). The First-Tier Tribunal rejected this contention but the Upper Tribunal allowed the company’s appeal against this decision observing that the case required ‘a full analysis of the fiduciary and contractual relationships embodied in the documents that were created for the purposes of the arrangements’. On the evidence ‘the entity seeking registration is holding the equipment as trustee for at least one beneficiary and leasing it to that beneficiary and to itself as non-trustee’. Accordingly the case...