Fishery business was not a trading concern

The appeal concerned the eligibility of a wild fishery business carried on by the late Mrs Pearce for business relief from inheritance tax – in essence whether the business consisted ‘wholly or mainly of making or holding investments’.

She had helped her husband run the business until he died in 2003 then she ran it on her own. Customers paid a fee to fish from an allocated part of the river they had access to basic facilities such as a car park fishermen’s huts storage buildings and a toilet. The deceased also had to maintain the riverbanks.

HMRC said the business was exploitation of land to produce income which was an investment activity and refused the executors’ claim for business relief. The taxpayers appealed.

The First-tier Tribunal noted that owning land to obtain an income was ‘generally’ to be characterised as an investment activity and ‘on...