Mrs DN Evelyn v HMRC

In Mrs DN Evelyn v HMRC (TC00997 – 1 March) a woman (E) had submitted a return claiming business asset taper relief in respect of a disposal of land. HMRC formed the opinion that E was not entitled to the relief because the partnership of which she was a member had not been carrying out the trade of farming but had let the land under a conacre agreement. They issued a discovery assessment. E appealed contending that her return had complied with the ‘practice generally prevailing’ so that the effect of TMA 1970 s 29(2) was that the assessment was invalid. The First-tier Tribunal rejected this contention and dismissed E’s appeal. Judge Tildesley observed that E had ‘claimed business taper relief on the basis that the partnership’s letting of the land in conacre was a trading activity despite the fact that the tenant farmed the...