Effect of SORN on availability of vehicle

The taxpayer ran a car dealership selling new cars and buying and selling second-hand vehicles. In 2001 it bought an expensive Maserati and in 2005 a Ford GT40 – also a rare car. After a PAYE audit in 2016 HMRC concluded that the cars had been made available to the company director for longer periods than declared in the forms P11D. It raised income tax assessments and National Insurance determinations for the years 2010-11 to 2016-17.

The First-tier Tribunal dismissed the taxpayers’ appeals for the years 2013-14 onwards but allowed them for the earlier years in respect of one of the vehicles.

The taxpayers appealed. They said the First-tier Tribunal had erred in deciding the cars were available for private use at times when no vehicle excise duty (VED) was in place for them.

The Upper Tribunal said the First-tier Tribunal was entitled to find that the...