Car Boot Pitches – VAT treatment of pitch income

A recent decision from the First Tier Tax Tribunal in the case of Rufforth Park Ltd lends further clarity to the VAT treatment of pitch fees. The facts of the case led the Tribunal to regard the charges for pitch fees as falling within the VAT Exemption as a right over land. The case report is here . Stall and pitch fees have been an area of debate by HMRC in recent years – the Upper Tribunal saw the supply of stalls at craft fayres made by Craft Carnival as being payments for so much more than merely the right to occupy a pitch and therefore saw these as taxable supplies of services in that instance.

 The Rufforth case provides – hopefully – a clear view that pitch fees for an “ordinary” car boot type pitch fall into the VAT Exemption liability – which is what the Public Notice 742 at paragraph 2.6 actually states as an example of an Exempt supply – which does raise the question as to why HMRC thought the case worthwhile to take to the Tribunal?

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