In Cambridge University Boathouse Ltd v HMRC [2021] UKFTT 0382 (TC) (28 October 2021) the First-tier Tribunal held that clubs rather than individual rowers were the true beneficiaries of a boathouse granted under licence to three Cambridge rowing clubs. Consequently the sporting exemption did not apply.
The appellant (CUBL) licensed use of its boathouse to three Cambridge university clubs who fielded crews to race against Oxford in the famous annual boat races. The dispute centred on whether the supply of the boathouse by CUBL to the clubs fell within the sporting exemption in VATA 1994 Sch 9 Group 10 item 3. This provision exempts ‘the supply by an eligible body to an individual of services closely linked with and essential to sport or physical education in which the individual is taking part’.
Unusually it was the taxpayer which argued that exemption should not apply whilst HMRC contended that...
