This appeal concerned a self build partnership who were constructing a Dutch barge as their permanent living accommodation. They sought zero-rating treatment for supplies made to them during construction on the basis that the boat was a “qualifying ship” within the meaning of Schedule 8 of VATA 1994. The Tribunal held, however, that until a ship had been completed sufficiently to render it seaworthy it could not properly be described as a qualifying ship.

Hugh McKay, appeared for the Respondents