HM Revenue & Customs v Waste Recycling Group Ltd.

Waste Recycling Group was a waste company operating landfill sites across the UK. WRG also operated waste transfer stations which accepted waste from local authorities and others in exchange for payments and civic amenity sites which were operated under agreements with local authorities and which accepted waste from members of the public free of charge. WRG submitted a claim for a refund of landfill tax which it argued had been overpaid. The claim was made in relation to inert materials such as construction and demolition waste which WRG had used on landfill sites for engineering purposes such as the construction of site roads or in compliance with waste management licence conditions requiring daily coverage of the site. HRMC refused to make the refund. WRG appealed to the VAT and duties tribunal which found that there had been “a disposal of material as waste” within the meaning of the Finance Act 1996 s.40(2)(a) (“the 1996 Act”). The tribunal found that the material was discarded as waste as the relevant intention was that of the person discarding the material and not of WRG. The inert material was waste notwithstanding the fact that it had been separated out from other waste in order to be used for engineering works or daily cover. The Court of Appeal found that the tribunal had erred in law. The case again turned on the meaning of discard. The Court held that the relevant intention might well not be that of the original producer of the materials. There was no principle that material once labelled as waste was always waste just because the original producer of it threw it away. It held that the use of the relevant materials by WRG was clear and such use was conclusive of its intention at the relevant time by whatever means and on whatever terms WRG acquired them. The materials used by WRG for daily cover and building roads were not the subject of a taxable disposal as defined in s.40(2) of the 1996 Act.