Plant and machinery meaning

Purpose If you need to acquire assets—particularly high-cost capital equipment—but lack the cash to pay outright, leasing or hire purchase (HP) can provide an alternative to a loan. These options allow payment by instalments over time so future business revenues can fund those instalments. Cars and commercial vehicles Agricultural machinery Plant and machinery Computers Office equipment such as printers/copiers Hotel/restaurant equipment Review checklist—key risks Cost Under a lease or HP arrangement, the lessee/hirer pays a deposit and a series of instalments across an agreed period (usually 24 to 60 months or more). With HP only, there is an option—without any obligation—to buy the asset(s) at the end of the hire term. CHECK: the total payable under the lease or HP agreement does not exceed the interest otherwise payable on a loan for the same period...

Brexit headlines Defra sets out scope of legislative alignment under UK-EU SPS Agreement The Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) has outlined the EU legislation it considers to sit within the scope of the proposed UK‑EU Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) Agreement. The statement confirms the government’s intention to seek legislative alignment with EU rules, including dynamic alignment, to lessen administrative burdens and reduce costs associated with agrifood trade. It indicates that, in most cases, alignment is anticipated to substitute for, rather than add to, current domestic requirements, despite the limited divergence since EU exit. Defra also signals that the referenced EU measures, together with related implementing and delegated acts, presently set the expected boundaries of the agreement’s scope, and that further updates and detailed guidance for businesses will be issued following the conclusion of negotiations...

In this issue: Budgets and Finance Bills International Real estate tax Employment taxes Taxes management and litigation VAT Companies and corporation tax Daily and weekly news alerts New and updated content Dates for your diary Trackers Useful information Budgets and Finance Bills Committee of the whole House set to consider FB 2026 clauses on 12 and 13 January 2026. As flagged in the highlights dated 18 December 2025, following the Bill’s second reading on 16 December 2025, the House of Commons referred specified elements of FB 2026 to a Committee of the whole House. That Committee will take those clauses on 12 and 13 January 2026. The Public Bill Committee, which will scrutinise the remainder of the Bill, is expected to finish its consideration by 26 February 2026. See: Finance Bill 2026 and Practice Note: Tax—Finance Bill 2026 tracker—progress through Parliament...

In this issue: Capital allowances VAT Taxes management and litigation International Capital gains tax Individuals and income tax Funds Daily and weekly news alerts New and updated content Dates for your diary Trackers Useful information Capital allowances FTT decides that quay wall qualifies for capital allowances (The Mersey Docks and Harbour Company Ltd v HMRC) As highlighted last week, in The Mersey Docks and Harbour Company Ltd v HMRC [2024] UKFTT 1163 (TC), the FTT upheld the taxpayer’s entitlement to plant and machinery allowances on costs incurred in constructing a quay wall, undertaken as part of delivering a new port terminal in Liverpool. See News Analysis: FTT decides that quay wall qualifies for capital allowances (The Mersey Docks and Harbour Company Ltd v HMRC). VAT UT decides that admission to the Great Yorkshire Show qualified for VAT charity fundraising exemption (HMRC v Yorkshire Agricultural Society) As set out...

Successive UK governments have aimed to cement the UK as one of the world’s most appealing settings for innovation and enterprise. To that end, a wide-ranging suite of tax incentives has been rolled out to encourage innovative companies, supporting both investors and trading entities, and assisting businesses at every phase of a business’s life cycle. These incentives include: R&D tax reliefs patent box business asset disposal relief (previously entrepreneurs’ relief) capital allowances for purchases of: knowhow patents, and plant and machinery venture capital trusts the enterprise investment scheme, and the seed enterprise investment scheme This Practice Note outlines the UK position on key tax considerations when determining how to structure an innovative business with international or global aspirations. The observations are general in nature and work on the basis of a clean slate; revisiting an existing IP ownership arrangement will inevitably demand a bespoke solution (notably...

Overview of the Supply Contract The Supply Contract, known as the ‘SC’, forms part of the NEC3 and NEC4 suites of contracts (see Practice Note: NEC contracts—introduction). Most construction practitioners are more familiar with the NEC3/NEC4 Engineering and Construction Contract (EEC); however, where an employer intends to purchase goods or plant and material in relation to a project, the NEC3/NEC4 Supply Contract can also be included as part of the documentation for that project. The Supply Contract may equally be used on a standalone basis to buy goods when a significant level of management control is required; but—as with any contract—it should be considered carefully to ensure its terms do not conflict with any other non‑NEC contracts used in relation to the same project. It is designed for the purchase of high‑value goods together with related services. The NEC have produced it with the intention that it be more even‑handed between buyer and seller than parties’ own standard terms and conditions of supply are likely to...

Business asset Capital gains tax (CGT) may fall due when you realise a gain on the disposal of all or part of a business asset. A business asset is any asset connected to a trade or business, owned by an individual or the business. Examples include: a factory farm buildings agricultural land plant and machinery a furnished holiday letting (FHL) shares registered trade marks Business assets may benefit from CGT reliefs; investment assets do not. Reliefs can apply where the asset has been used for business purposes. Furnished holiday accommodation For a property to qualify as an FHL and benefit from CGT relief, it must be: in the UK or the European Economic Area (EEA) furnished with sufficient furniture for use as holiday accommodation available to the public for commercial holiday letting for at least 210 days (the availability condition) commercially let as holiday accommodation for at least 105...

This Agreement is dated [ insert day and month ] 20[ insert year ] Parties [ insert name of selling corporate entity ], a company registered in [ England and Wales OR [ insert country of incorporation ] ], with number [ insert company number ], whose registered office is at [ insert address ] (Seller) [ insert name of purchasing corporate entity ], a company registered in [ England and Wales OR [ insert country of incorporation ] ], with number [ insert company number ], whose registered office is at [ insert address ] (Buyer) [ Insert name of guarantor entity ], incorporated in [ England and Wales OR [ insert country of incorporation ] ], with number [ insert company number ], whose registered office is at [ insert address ] (Guarantor) [ Each of the Seller, the Buyer and the Guarantor is a Party and, collectively, the Seller, the Buyer and the Guarantor are the Parties. ]...

This Agreement is made on [ insert day and month ] 20[ insert year ] Parties [ Insert name of company in administration ] (in administration), being a company incorporated in [ England and Wales OR [ insert country of incorporation ] ], with registered number [ insert company number ], and having its registered office at [ insert address ] (the Seller), acting through its [ joint ] Administrator(s) [ Insert name of administrator(s) ] of [ insert name of firm ], whose registered office is at [ insert address of firm ] (the Administrator(s)) [ insert name of purchasing corporate entity ], a company duly incorporated in [ England and Wales OR [ insert country of incorporation ] ], with registered number [ insert company number ], and with its registered office address at [ insert address ] (the Buyer); and each of the Seller Administrator(s) and the Buyer being a Party, and together the Seller Administrator(s) and the Buyer being the...

1 Capital allowances—for use where the Seller has claimed a first-year allowance or pooled qualifying expenditure on plant and machinery fixtures and the parties will enter into a s 198/s 199 joint fixtures election on completion In this clause 1: CAA 2001 means the Capital Allowances Act 2001; Fixtures means all plant and machinery installed or otherwise affixed in or to the Property so as to become part of the Property at law, including any boiler or water‑filled radiator under section 173(1) of CAA 2001; HMRC means HM Revenue & Customs; Main Pool Plant means those Fixtures included by the Seller in the main pool under section 54 of CAA 2001; Prior Right has the meaning of prior right for the purposes of section 181(2) of CAA 2001; Special Rate Pool Plant means those Fixtures included in a special rate pool under section 104C of CAA 2001. On Completion, the...