Significant change

The taxpayer was in business selling used sports cars. He stopped trading from Fletton Avenue Peterborough in 2005 and sold the property three years later.

He began working from a site next to his home but had to change the way he operated - which included no longer having cars on display because there was no passing trade advertising on the internet and selling four-wheel drive and family vehicles instead of sports cars

He claimed entrepreneurs’ relief on the disposal of the premises on Fletton Avenue on the basis there had been a disposal of the business. HMRC refused the claim.

The First-tier Tribunal said there had been a significant change in the way the taxpayer conducted his business when he left Fletton Avenue:  a cessation of the trade from the premises had taken place within three years leading to the date of the sale.

The taxpayer...