HMRC v Apollo Fuels and Edwards

In HMRC v Apollo Fuels and Edwards (FTC/42/2013 – 26 February 2014) the UT had to decide whether arrangements under which a group of companies provided cars to its employees and paid them a mileage allowance were subject to tax (ITEPA 2003 s 114).

The group provided cars to salesmen and managers employed by its subsidiaries both as a prerequisite of their employment and to enable them to carry out their duties (visiting customers and suppliers delivering freight travelling between various company sites visiting the companies’ banks and accountants etc). Since April 2002 following legal changes it had done this by leasing cars to its workforce for an arm’s length hire rental. A mileage allowance was paid to employees and set off against the rentals.

The UT found that the leased cars were taken out of the application of s 114...