Only or main residence test

Key points

• A couple separated before moving into the marital home.
• Importance of the taxpayer’s intentions for the property.
• Nature of way of life while living in the house.

I like reading tax cases but sometimes they can be frustrating because the facts set out are insufficient to understand properly the reason for the decision. The First-tier Tribunal’s ruling in Hezi Yechiel (TC6829) may well be one such case – see Ximena Montes Manzano’s article ‘A step too far?’ (Taxation 21 February 2019 page 14) in which she examined technical aspects of the decision.

It is of course for the taxpayer to establish the facts. If he fails to do so he cannot complain too loudly if the result is that the tribunal has to make guesses or assumptions about the missing facts. But in Yechiel the taxpayer gave oral evidence so the tribunal had the opportunity to fill...