Wrong attraction

The taxpayer was a trade body for amusement park businesses. It arranged for members to attend exhibitions and produced magazines to highlight rides.

The taxpayer believed it had overpaid output tax in respect of membership subscriptions on the basis they should have been treated as exempt under VATA 1994 Sch 9 group 9 item 1(d). It claimed repayment for the period from 1 January 1982 to 31 March 2008.

HMRC refused the claim – and the First-tier Tribunal dismissed the taxpayer’s appeal.

The Upper Tribunal said the First-tier Tribunal had correctly asked whether or not the primary purpose of the taxpayer had been making representations to the government on behalf of its members – as required by Sch 9 group 9 item 1(d) – and found it had not.

The First-tier Tribunal had examined the constitutional documents of the taxpayer as well as studied the taxpayer’s business...