Marquess of Linlithgow v HMRC

Personal Tax: IHT: time of disposal

In Marquess of Linlithgow v HMRC (CS – 19 March) a Scottish landowner made two dispositions of land to an accumulation and maintenance trust. The dispositions were executed on 15 March 2006. One of the dispositions was recorded in the Register of Sasines on 10 October 2006 and the other on 16 November 2006. HMRC issued a notice determining that the time of the disposition was the date when each disposition was recorded in the Register of Sasines (so that the dispositions were subject to the anti-avoidance provisions of FA 2006). The landowner and the trustees appealed contending that as the dispositions had taken place when they were executed the anti-avoidance provisions of FA 2006 did not apply and the transfers were potentially exempt. The CS unanimously accepted this contention and allowed the appeals applying the principles laid down in...