The First Tier Tribunal (FTT) ruled in favour of Rufforth Park Ltd and against HRMC’s VAT and interest assessment totalling £87,295 finding that the pitches the business rented out for its Sunday car boot sale were classed as zero-rated and exempt from VAT.

Rufforth Park is a small family business that runs car boot sales on a field it owns in Wetherby near Leeds. Car boot sellers paid £9 for a pitch on the day and were allocated a pitch on arrival with advance bookings or selection of a pitch not being available to sellers.

When the business first began, they approached HMRC to ask whether they should charge VAT on the sale of its pitches with the tax authority telling them that they should.