Madinatul Uloom Al Islamiya v HMRC

In Madinatul Uloom Al Islamiya v HMRC [2019] UKFTT 658 (30 October 2019) the FTT found that a residential Islamic faith school which was partly funded by donations carried out an economic activity.

The college was a registered charity which operated a residential Islamic faith school near Kidderminster. The level of fees was fixed by the college trustees but the running costs of the college exceeded the fees received from pupils and the balance was met by donations from the wider faith community. In 2015 it was decided to demolish one wing of the college’s existing buildings and to erect a new hall for the annual graduation. There were two issues: whether the hall was used solely for a relevant charitable purpose (VATA 1994 Sch 8 Group 5 item 2); and if so whether the hall qualified as an annexe for the purpose of Note...