Can a farm landlord claim AIA on of solar pv panels?

Posted by kevinringer PM | on Thu, 26/07/2012 - 15:24 772 | report

A landlord owns a farm which he lets out to his tenant. The landlord has installed solar pv panels on the farmhouse. Can the landlord claim AIA on the solar pv panels?

See www.hmrc.gov.uk/tiin/tiin684.pdf page 3 discussing the cessation of ECAs on solar panels for which FiTs or RHIs are claimed:

"A further impact of this measure is on businesses claiming capital allowances in respect of expenditure on solar PV cells provided for use in a dwelling-house, hotel, office, retail shop or showroom that may not previously have fallen to be treated as special rate – these would suffer a slight cash flow disadvantage by the changes, if their annual spend on plant and machinery exceeded the AIA limit of £25,000, as the expenditure is written off over a longer period of time."

This seems clear - you can claim AIA.

But see the notes for boxes 31 to 34 for property income See www.hmrc.gov.uk/worksheets/sa105-notes.pdf page UKPN10:

"you cannot claim capital allowances for plant or machinery (such as furniture and fixtures) for use in a dwelling house if you have a property business, unless it qualifies as a furnished holiday letting business."

This appears to rule out a claim.

So can AIA be claimed or not? Anyone got any thoughts?