Philip Vickery

Is it becoming more difficult to claim agricultural property relief?

PHILIP VICKERY, solicitor, discusses the mechanics of stamp duty sub-sale relief.

What A Big Relief

PHILIP VICKERY, solicitor, delves into the new substantial shareholdings legislation.

THE GOVERNMENT FIRST announced its intention to introduce a new corporation tax relief for disposals of substantial shareholdings some considerable time ago. As proposed in a Technical Note of 23 June 2000, the new relief would take the form of a deferral of tax on chargeable gains reinvested in qualifying assets.

Scope for stamp duty planning still exists, says PHILIP VICKERY, solicitor, although the Revenue is taking steps to limit this.

CONTRARY TO RECENT trends, the 2002 Budget did not announce any direct increases in the rates of stamp duty on land transactions, or changes in the applicable thresholds. Rather, the Treasury has focused on counteracting some, but not all, of the techniques for avoiding or mitigating stamp duty on high value property transactions, which have become increasingly commonplace over the last few years.