Readers’ forum: Transferring a former business premises to a director

My client is an owner-managed business. It owned a plot of land which was once the site of its business premises but the company moved some time ago and demolished the buildings on the site. The land is no longer used for any purposes and is vacant. The 100% shareholder-director who is also my client has asked about the tax implications of transferring it to him at no cost.

I have two questions. First does this automatically trigger a benefit in kind charge on the director based on the market value of the land? But is there a case for saying that this is a distribution under CTA 2010 s 1000(1) para G? The income tax due would be less and there would be no National Insurance contributions. I always thought that the distribution charge took priority over the earnings charge but PA...