Capital Allowances Act 2001 section 273

Preparation of sites for plant or machinery

Section 273 allows certain land preparation costs for installing plant or machinery to qualify for industrial buildings allowances by treating the expenditure as if it related to preparing a site for a building.

• Capital expenditure on preparing, cutting, tunnelling or levelling land to create a site for installing plant or machinery may qualify for allowances under this section
• The section only applies where no allowance would otherwise be available under the industrial buildings provisions or the plant and machinery allowance rules
• The expenditure is treated as though it were incurred to prepare the land as a site for constructing a building, and the installed plant or machinery is treated as though it were a building
• This deeming mechanism brings the site preparation costs within the scope of industrial buildings allowances that would not otherwise cover expenditure related to plant or machinery installation