Prefab school

Meaning of immovable property

Part of a secondary school had been condemned and temporary accommodation was needed until permanent arrangements were made. Sibcas supplied a two-storey temporary school building comprising three interlinked blocks. The building was used for 32 months.

The issue was whether the supply was exempt as a letting of immovable property (VATA 1994 Sch 9 Pt II group 1 item 1) as contended by HMRC. The First-tier Tribunal had allowed the taxpayer’s appeal that it was not and therefore the supply was subject to standard-rate VAT.

The Upper Tribunal said a building would be immovable property if it was fixed to or in the ground. However the Court of Justice of the EU had not prescribed the circumstances in which a building was fixed or in the ground. Further the letting of a building could be immovable property even if the land on...