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Was admission to the Great Yorkshire Show exempt under the fundraising exemption?

By Andrew Needham, July 2023

Summary 

The appellant organised and ran the annual Great Yorkshire Show (the Show). This appeal addressed whether the Society's supply of admission to the Show in 2016 and 2017 should, in principle, be treated as an exempt supply for the purposes of the Value Added Tax Act 1994. 

Background 

The appellant originally treated the admission income for the Show as standard-rated. 

In April 2020, the appellant's representatives made a voluntary disclosure to HMRC of overdeclared output tax and overclaimed input tax in respect of its admission income for the 2016 Show, on the grounds it should have been treated as exempt under the fundraising exemption. The situation gave rise to a claim for net overpaid VAT of £201,949.  

In November 2020, the appellant confirmed that it had also treated the 2017 Show as exempt from VAT. 

HMRC rejected the claim

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