18917
	
	ZERO RATING  — Supply of motor car adapted for use by handicapped person — supply zero-rated — as supply made to finance company did not qualify for zero-rating — appeal dismissed

MANCHESTER TRIBUNAL CENTRE

 
 	
	BENTLEY & BENTLEY LIMITED	Appellant

	- and -

	THE COMMISSIONERS OF CUSTOMS AND EXCISE	Respondents

				Tribunal:	 J David Demack (Chairman)

Sitting in public in Manchester on 10 January 2005
The Appellant did not appear and was not represented
Mr Nigel Poole of counsel, instructed by the Solicitor’s Office of HM Customs and Excise for the Respondents 

	© CROWN COPYRIGHT 2005

DECISION

1.	The Appellant company, Bentley & Bentley Limited (“Bentley”) is the Skipton local Ford dealer.  It agreed to supply Mrs Sheila Pennie, a handicapped person who usually uses a wheelchair, with a new Ford Focus motor car.  The Commissioners of Customs and Excise accepted that the car to be supplied had been substantially and permanently adapted for the carriage of Mrs Pennie.  She provided a declaration that she was receiving the car for domestic or personal use, and claimed relief from VAT on the supply of the car under Group 12 of Schedule 8 to the Value Added Tax Act 1994. 
2.	Item 2 of the said Group 12 zero-rates the supply to a handicapped person for domestic or personal use of a motor vehicle designed, or substantially and permanently, adapted for the carriage of a person in a wheelchair, and capable of accommodating no more than 12 persons.
3.	Unfortunately, Bentley did not supply the car to Mrs Pennie; it was supplied to FCE Bank plc.  Consequently, Bentley was not entitled to zero-rate the supply of the vehicle to FCE Bank plc, and the Commissioners, assessed it to VAT of £1946.
4.	(As the Commissioners pointed out in the Statement of Case, Bentley could recover the assessed tax by issuing a VAT only invoice to FCE Bank plc).  I dismiss the appeal.
5.	As a competent Customs officer should have been able to resolve this unfortunate matter without resorting to making an assessment, I refused the Commissioners’ application for costs.

DAVID DEMACK
CHAIRMAN
Release Date: 21 January 2005

MAN/03/0794