Ross Birkbeck appeared for the taxpayer in his appeal to the First-Tier Tribunal in Brown v HMRC [2021] UKFTT 208 (TC).
In this appeal against SDLT determinations in relation to a 2007 sub-sale arrangement, the FTT rejected the rationale, relied on by HMRC, of the decision in Vardy [2012] UKFTT 564 (TC), Crest Nicholson and others v HMRC [2017] UKFTT 135 and Geering and others v HMRC [2018] UKFTT 0233 (TC), and instead found that the appeal should be dismissed on the basis that the price for a subscription for shares was consideration within (then) section 45(3)(b)(ii) of Finance Act 2003. However, the FTT also rejected HMRC’s arguments in respect of section 75A, finding that it did have jurisdiction to consider the Appellant’s arguments on 75A, and that further no determination had been made in respect of the s75A notional transaction. The hearing followed a successful application for permission to appeal out of time in 2019.
