Andrew Arnott - Saffery Champness

The Balfour Case was first heard before a First Tier Tax Tribunal in May 2009. The decision handed down was to allow the appeal by Lord Balfour’s Executors against a determination by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) denying business property relief for inheritance tax in respect of land, houses and cottages which were let to third parties. That case covered some quite technical aspects, but the main point of interest to professional advisers was the principle of a traditional landed estate carrying on a variety of activities qualifying for business property relief on the basis that it was wholly or mainly carrying on a trading activity.

 VAT exemption rules explained

The partial exemption rules were revised with effect from 1 April 2010. There are two main changes: revised “de minimis” tests (there are now three) and the introduction of a new annual test.  “Up to 1 April 2010 there was one de minimis test – if your exempt input tax in relation to your purchases did not exceed £7,500 per annum on average, and if it was no more than 50% of your total input tax, you could reclaim all your input tax. That test remains unchanged and, unfortunately, yet again the thresholds have not been increased.