GC Field & Sons Ltd and others v HMRC

In GC Field & Sons Ltd and others v HMRC [2021] UKFTT 297 (TC) (19 August 2021) the FTT allowed the taxpayers’ appeal and found that discovery assessments issued in respect of SDLT avoidance arrangements were invalid. This was because HMRC had not discharged the burden of proving that either the taxpayers or their advisers had been negligent. The FTT’s decision includes consideration of the meaning of discovery and the circumstances in which advisers should be regarded as acting ‘on behalf of’ a taxpayer for these purposes.

The taxpayers had entered into arrangements marketed by an organization called ELS to avoid SDLT by making use of the SDLT sub-sale rules. FA 2013 contained measures to counteract this type of arrangement with retrospective effect and it included an obligation on affected taxpayers to submit amended SDLT returns by 30 September 2013 (around six months after the...

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