Roof not specified

The taxpayer business manufactured and installed polycarbonate roofing panels for conservatories. It claimed it qualified for the reduced rate of VAT for energy saving materials (VATA 1994 Sch 7A group 2) because the panels provided higher levels of insulation than conventional ones.

HMRC disagreed saying the panels were not insulation for roofs but were the roof itself. The First-tier Tribunal allowed the taxpayer’s appeal.

The matter moved to the Upper Tribunal where the judge said the First-tier Tribunal had been wrong in its interpretation of note 1(a) of group 2.

It misconstrued “insulation for roofs” as extending to the roof itself. The note made the reduced rate available to certain types as goods or products not to all types of materials with energy-saving properties that could be installed in homes.

The judge remarked “A material which is insulation for a roof is not the same...