In Airtours Holidays Transport v HMRC (A3/2011/0251 – 24 July 2014) the Court of Appeal found that Airtours was not entitled to recover input tax in respect of services provided by PwC.
The issue was whether PwC had supplied services to Airtours. The hearing had been adjourned pending the Supreme Court decisions in Loyalty Management [2013] UKSC 15 and WHA [2013] UKSC 24 which both confirmed that the decision of the House of Lords in Redrow [1999] STC 161 was correct – with a limited qualification.
In 2002 Airtours had faced a financial crisis with over £2bn debt. As over 80 banks and financial institutions were involved a steering committee led by Royal Bank of Scotland and Barclays Bank was put in place. The committee appointed – and Airtours participated in that process – PwC to provide an insight into Airtours’ financial position. Airtours was...