Helena Housing Ltd v HMRC

Business Tax: Company providing rented housing: whether a charity

In Helena Housing Ltd v HMRC (TC00384 – 8 March) a company (H) was incorporated in 2001 to administer more than 12 000 properties in St Helens which had been owned by the local borough council. In November 2004 it amended its Memorandum of Association and it was registered as a charity from December 2004. It appealed against corporation tax assessments for its accounting periods ending in March 2003 and 2004 contending that it should be treated as a charity for those periods even though it had not been registered as a charity until December 2004. The First-Tier Tribunal rejected this contention and dismissed the appeal observing that H's housing stock 'was not available to the community of St Helens at large' and finding that its principal aim had been to provide benefits for its existing...