02 Mar Cornerstone Tax helps client achieve a £250,000 stamp duty reversal
Cornerstone Tax – the UK’s leading property tax specialists – have helped a client achieve a £250,000 stamp duty reversal in their latest successful case. Cornerstone had identified that their client’s purchase of over 40 acres had been misclassified for stamp duty purposes as residential instead of mixed-use. This resulted in an overpayment of the tax totalling nearly £250,000. After a 4-year dispute with HMRC, Cornerstone managed to secure the full refund amount for their client.
Upon identifying the issue, Cornerstone submitted an amended return for approval and requested a refund for the client. HMRC denied the refund, claiming the land was “wholly residential” – despite the land containing all the features usually associated with agricultural and residential activity. As a result, Cornerstone was forced to engage in the Tax Appeals process with HMRC on the client’s behalf with the prospect of the case going before a tribunal.
Before the case went to a tribunal, the experts at Cornerstone went through a 4-year process of technical correspondence with various parties at HMRC. However, before the case could reach the tribunal, HMRC’s legal team agreed that they had misclassified the original tax status of the land. Consequently, they withdrew their claim and instructed the tribunal to close its file on the matter.
Cornerstone Tax’s guidance meant that the client ended up with a full refund of £250,000 that they would not otherwise have known to claim. In 2022, Cornerstone Tax completed 335 cases, with total tax saved for their clients standing at over £16 million – amounting to £48,000 saved on average per case. This comes after Cornerstone Tax uncovered that around 75,000 people could be owed £80,000 each after being told to pay stamp duty on commercial properties put into their personal pensions.
Group Chairman of Cornerstone Tax, David Hannah comments:
“This result is not at all surprising, in fact, we estimate that as many as 95% of the cases we handle never even get to the dispute/appeal stage. Of the remaining 5%, many never reach an actual Tribunal hearing in Court.
“Though the delays from HMRC in this case were frustrating, but we are happy that the correct verdict was finally accepted after four years. Our guidance over the past year has led to over £16 million in total tax saved for our clients, amounting to £48,000 saved on average per case.”
