Upper Tribunal determines that disclosure notes in marketed SDLT avoidance schemes were inadequate to prevent discovery assessments

Marika Lemos and Colm Kelly were successful before the Upper Tribunal in Carter & Kennedy v HMRC [2021] UKUT 300 (TCC).

The appellants appealed against the conclusion of the First-tier Tribunal that a standard form disclosure note which they had submitted alongside their SDLT return was insufficient to clearly alert the hypothetical officer to an insufficiency in an assessment, with the consequence that discovery assessments later issued by HMRC were valid. 

The Upper Tribunal upheld this conclusion, having been invited to consider new evidence which was not before the First-tier Tribunal.

This decision will be of relevance to the significant number of ongoing appeals by users of the ‘Jeepster’ and ‘Hummer’ marketed SDLT avoidance schemes.

The decision can be read here. The First-tier Tribunal’s decision can be read here.

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