In Yorkshire Agricultural Society v HMRC [2025] UKUT 00004, the Upper Tribunal found that admission fees to the ‘Great Yorkshire Show’ were an exempt supply for VAT purposes.

Great Yorkshire Show

The Yorkshire Agricultural Society (YAS), a charity which organises and runs the annual Great Yorkshire Show, initially treated admission income for the show as VATable at the standard rate.

  • The YAS subsequently sought repayment of VAT for the 2016 and 2017 shows because the show's entry charges should have been treated as VAT exempt, under the fundraising exemption.
  • HMRC denied the repayments, believing the supplies did not qualify for the exemption.     
  • Appeals were submitted to the First Tier Tribunal (FTT) which agreed with YAS and allowed the repayments.   

HMRC further challenged the 2016 decision, but not the 2017 one.

  • The YGA’s activities support and promote rural and allied industries in the North of England, advancing and encouraging research, fundraising, promoting and holding the annual show.
  • It was accepted in the FTT hearing that YAS ‘putting on the show’ and spending on its charitable aims were ‘entwined’, one being unable to occur without the other. This was a relevant fact in the Upper Tribunal (UT) proceedings.

The UT was only concerned with one aspect: the application of points (b) and (c) of the item 1 VAT exemption under Group 12, Schedule 9 VATA 1994.   

The FTT believed all three points in item 1 were met.

Item 1 provides a VAT exemption for, ‘The supply of goods and services by a charity in connection with an event’, 

  1. That is organised for charitable purposes (or jointly organised).
  2. The primary purpose is to raise money, and
  3. That is promoted as being primarily for the raising of money.

The FTT determined point (b) was met on two separate grounds:

  • The show’s main purposes were fundraising and education, neither of greater importance than the other and therefore co-existing as no order of importance could be determined. The FTT determined fundraising was not a ‘discrete’ purpose and this intertwining effect formed a single purpose.
  • If the fundraising was ‘discrete’, it was one important purpose, regardless of not being the only purpose, that the FTT believed was enough to satisfy point (b).

Regarding point (c) the FTT referred to the law in  Article 132 (1)(o) of the Principal VAT Directive (PVD) which outlines that the PVD does not contain any requirement that an event be promoted ‘primarily’ for the raising of money. The FTT did not believe that point (c) was compatible with the PVD and should be read without the word ‘primarily’.  

HMRC argued:

  • Point (b): the legislation required an event with a single identifiable purpose and the interpretation was flawed.
  • Point (c): HMRC disagreed with the FTT’s disapplication of the word ‘primarily’

The UT found:

  • Concerning point (b): HMRC's submissions that if two equal purposes exist, there could be no main purpose was incorrect. Although the UT did not agree with how the FTT had arrived at their conclusions for point (b), they agreed that the activities should not have been split, and the conclusion had been met in line with the facts.  
    • The FTT was entitled to conclude that the requirement in item 1(b) was not failed in a situation where the primary purpose of the event consisted of fund-raising which was inextricably intertwined with the furthering of the charity’s charitable purposes.
  • The FTT was correct to interpret point (c) in line with Article 132 (1)(o) resulting in the conclusion that the event must be ‘promoted for the raising of money’ and the use of the word primarily in point (c) was unnecessary.

Both appeals were dismissed. 

Useful guides on this topic 

VAT Toolkit
This is our summary version of HMRC's output and input VAT toolkits, our version includes more detail, topics and planning points. 

Goods or services for VAT
What are goods and what are services for VAT? The answer may have an impact on the time of supply, the place of supply and in some cases the rate of the supply. The answer is not always as straightforward as it may seem.

Registering for VAT
When should a business register for and charge VAT? What are the VAT registration thresholds? What penalties might HMRC issue for late notification of registration? When do you need to file a VAT return?

Correcting VAT errors
What are the VAT error correction time limits? Can you correct errors through the VAT return? Do you have to notify HMRC?

External link

Yorkshire Agricultural Society v HMRC [2025] UKUT 00004

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