Field formed part of the residential property

The taxpayer bought a substantial property comprising a five-bedroomed house with landscaped gardens two double garages a manege a paddock and an eight-acre field. The total plot was about ten acres. He submitted a stamp duty land tax return and paid the tax on the basis the property was wholly residential.

However the taxpayer later submitted an amended return saying the property should have been taxed at the rates in FA 2003 s 55 table B (mixed use). This was on the basis that taken as a whole the purchase was of a dwelling and non-residential land.

HMRC disagreed. The taxpayer appealed. Broadly he claimed the field was not residential in nature.

The First-tier Tribunal noted that immediately before the taxpayer bought the property there was ‘conflicting evidence’ as to whether the previous owners had used the field on a commercial basis....