Enterprise Inns plc v HMRC (and related appeal)

In Enterprise Inns plc v HMRC (and related appeal) (Upper Tribunal – 18 July) two companies owned a large number of public houses which they had opted to tax. The public houses contained both commercial and residential accommodation. In accounting for VAT they reclaimed input tax on various expenses relating to the upkeep of the public houses. HMRC issued a ruling that 10% of the rent should be treated as relating to the domestic parts of the premises and that as an option to tax did not apply to residential property the companies were not entitled to credit for that part of the input tax. The companies appealed contending that the whole of the rent should be treated as relating to the commercial parts of the public houses. The First-tier Tribunal rejected this contention and dismissed the appeals. Judge Tildesley observed that ‘the portion...