Readers’ forum: Calculating shares issued to client after company transfer

A husband-and-wife client had built up a residential property portfolio of 21 properties between 1988 and 2014. Following a beneficial interest company transfer the business was transferred to a limited company they owned. In calculating the shares issued to the couple the values of the properties were reduced by the values of the mortgages as at the date of the transfer HMRC opened an enquiry into the transfer but after reviewing the document confirmed that the whole of the business including the assets had been transferred as a going concern in exchange for the shares issued by the company thus meeting the test laid down in Taxation of Chargeable Gains Act 1992 s 162 .

The properties and the mortgages are registered in our client’s personal names. The rents are received in their company bank and the mortgages’ interest are also paid from...