STATUS OF SIPP FOR VAT PURPOSES

摘要

The decision in Darren & Lynn Hills (TC03770) is of considerable interest in respect of interpreting the provision of paragraph 40, schedule 10, Value Added Tax Act (VATA). This deems a beneficial owner of property to be the supplier, rather than a mere legal owner. One question in this complex case was whether the SIPP was a mere legal owner. There was only one beneficiary by the time of the sale. The argument was that the beneficiary had been the seller. She had not opted to tax the property (whereas the SIPP had - or at least the tribunal held that it had), so the appellants (who had bought the property) argued that the transaction must be exempt. This was only one of several arguments put forward in the case, but as with the others, this argument failed.