HMRC v SSE Generation Ltd

In HMRC v SSE Generation Ltd [2023] UKSC 17 (17 May 2023) the Supreme Court (SC) dismissed HMRC's appeal against the CA’s decision that expenditure on various structures forming part of a hydroelectric power generation scheme qualified for capital allowances as plant and machinery.

Before the SC the only items which remained in dispute were conduits of various kinds that channelled water to the main reservoir the headrace that carried water under increasing pressure from the reservoir to the turbine and the tailrace and tunnels that carried water away from the turbine. It was common ground that all of the disputed items were 'plant' according to its common law definition so the only issue was whether the expenditure was excluded by CAA 2001 s 22.

The only issue for the SC was whether the items in dispute were ‘tunnels’ or ‘aqueducts’ within CAA 2001 s 22 List B....

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