Swimming pool allowances

The taxpayer company operated a retirement home that it bought in September 2004.

The grounds featured a swimming pool housed by a conservatory on which the business claimed capital allowances.

A question arose as to whether the conservatory was plant for capital allowances purposes.  The appropriate method of apportionment and the allowable cost of the pool were also put in doubt.

The First-tier Tribunal noted that the conservatory was a fixed structure used to provide shelter and warmth to residents who used the pool – but it did not fall within the definition of an industrial building because no qualifying trade was carried on.

The conservatory did not add thermal insulation to an existing building so could not satisfy CAA 2001 s 28 and was excluded from capital allowances by s 21 or s 22 the tribunal ruled.

The taxpayer argued that “where the value of assets can...