Readers' forum : Golf days

I am the treasurer of a members’ non-profit making golf club which has been struggling to recruit members. In the past three years we have therefore organised a free golf day at the club for all the local secondary schoolchildren and college students.

As an incentive to generate interest we give each attendant a bundle of golf goodies worth £50 each and a free lunch that is cooked by an external caterer who is VAT-registered. Each attendant plays 18 holes and we award prizes (usually clothing) for the best performances.

We have always treated the input tax on the catering golf goodies and clothing costs as residual input tax and partly claimable (as being relevant to the overall promotion of the club which is partially exempt). However an HMRC compliance officer has recently said that no input tax can be claimed because it is a...