EIM11423 - Living accommodation: meaning of provided: example 3

Sections 97 and 108 ITEPA 2003 and Extra-Statutory Concession A91

The meaning of provided can cause difficulties, often in the case of holiday accommodation (see EIM11405). This page, example EIM11421 and example EIM11422 use examples with similar basic facts to bring out the different meaning provided can have depending on the facts of the case.

A UK company purchases a flat in a French ski resort for £200,000. It is agreed that a market rental for the property would be £500 per week during the 6 month skiing season and £100 per week during the rest of the year. A husband and wife who are both directors of the company use the flat for holidays with their children for 3 weeks during the ski season and one week in the rest of the year. Their children are neither employees nor directors of the company. The employer says that the property was bought to let commercially and for the use of other employees of the company. In fact there have been no commercial lettings during the year and it has only been used for one week of the year by an employee of the company who was the director's secretary.

This is a case where in practice we would seek to test whether what the employer was telling us was correct. For example, what if any evidence is there of attempts to let the property commercially or to advise other employees of the company of its availability for use by them? Based on that evidence it is then a matter of judgement whether in reality the sole reason the property was bought was as a holiday home for the husband and wife directors, in which case the tax consequences would be as in example EIM11421. Or it may be that genuine attempts have been made to let the property commercially and make it available for use by other employees of the company, in which case the tax consequences in example EIM11422 will follow.