In HMRC v Wakefield College [2016] UKUT 19 (20 January 2016) the UT found that some of the college’s supplies of education were made in the course or furtherance of a business so that the construction of a new building was not zero-rated.
The appeal related to the construction of a new building for the college and HMRC’s refusal to authorise Wakefield to issue a zero-rating certificate to the builders (VATA 1994 Sch 8 group 5).
It was accepted that the college was a charity. It was also accepted that following the construction of the building the college intended to make use of it for the provision of further and higher education (and has done so since it opened in 2009) and that this was capable of amounting to a relevant charitable purpose. HMRC contended however that some of the college’s supplies of...
