Business Asset Roll-over Relief

HMRC: Roll-over on farm cottages.
Are farm cottages owned by a farming company and occupied by farm workers business property for capital gains tax roll-over relief purposes? It was held in the case of Anderton v Lamb that property occupied by partners in a farming partnership were not.

In order to qualify for relief, farm cottages must be occupied for the purpose of the company’s trade. This was not accepted in Anderton v Lamb, but although HMRC have resisted for 12 months, we have finally secured their somewhat reluctant acceptance that in the case of a company, occupation by an employee is tantamount to occupation by the company.

HMRC dismissed our claim out of hand twice and dragged the correspondence on with repeated referrals for ‘technical guidance’, but our tenacity has paid off and a precedent is now set. Tax refund received and banked!