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United Kingdom Statutory Instruments


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STATUTORY INSTRUMENTS


2005 No. 1868

STAMP DUTY LAND TAX

The Stamp Duty Land Tax Avoidance Schemes (Prescribed Descriptions of Arrangements) Regulations 2005

  Made 11th July 2005 
  Laid before the House of Commons 11th July 2005 
  Coming into force 1st August 2005 

The Treasury, in exercise of the powers conferred upon them by sections 306(1)(a) and (b) and 318 of the Finance Act 2004[1] make the following Regulations:

Citation, commencement and interpretation
     1. —(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Stamp Duty Land Tax Avoidance Schemes (Prescribed Descriptions of Arrangements) Regulations 2005 and shall come into force on 1st August 2005.

    (2) In these Regulations—

    (3) For the purposes of these Regulations, section 839 of the Income and Corporation Taxes Act 1988[3] applies to determine whether persons are connected.

Prescribed description of arrangements in relation to stamp duty land tax
     2. —(1) For the purposes of Part 7 (disclosure of tax avoidance schemes) the arrangements specified in paragraph (3) are prescribed in relation to stamp duty land tax.

    (2) In this regulation—

    (3) The arrangements are those—

    (4) If a promoter does not know whether proposals will result in arrangements, the subject matter of which will consist at least in part of non-residential property, it shall be assumed, for the purposes of these Regulations, that the subject matter of any resulting arrangements will so consist.

    (5) If a promoter makes a notifiable proposal available generally, it shall be assumed that the applicable value is £5,000,000 or more.

    (6) In any case where—


Tom Watson

Vernon Coaker
Two of the Lords Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury

11th July 2005



SCHEDULE
Regulation 2(3)(c)


Excluded Arrangements


Arrangements are excluded from being prescribed arrangements for the purposes of these Regulations if they —

Rule 1
Arrangements involving Steps B, D, E and F are excluded arrangements unless rule 2 applies.

Rule 2
Arrangements are not excluded arrangements if they—

The steps are as follows.

Step A: Acquisition of a chargeable interest by special purpose vehicle
The acquisition of a chargeable interest in land by a company created for that purpose ("a special purpose vehicle").

Step B: Claims to relief
Making—

Step C: Sale of shares in special purpose vehicle
The sale of shares in a special purpose vehicle, which holds a chargeable interest in land, to a person with whom neither the special purpose vehicle, nor the vendor, is connected.

Step D: Not exercising election to waive exemption from VAT
No election is made to waive exemption from value added tax contained in paragraph 2 of Schedule 10 to the Value Added Tax Act 1994[11] (treatment of buildings and land for value added tax purposes).

Step E: Transfer of a business as a going concern
Arranging the transfer of a business, connected with the land which is the subject of the arrangements, in such a way that it is treated for the purposes of value added tax as the transfer of a going concern.

Step F: Undertaking a joint venture
The creation of a partnership (within the meaning of paragraph 1 of Schedule 15 to the Finance Act 2003) to which the property subject to a land transaction is to be transferred.



EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Regulations)


These Regulations prescribe arrangements which enable or might be expected to enable any person to obtain a tax advantage in relation to stamp duty land tax, and which a promoter is required to notify to the Inland Revenue.

Regulation 1 provides for the citation, commencement and interpretation of these Regulations.

Regulation 2 prescribes arrangements in relation to stamp duty land tax which must be notified to HM Revenue & Customs under Part 7 of the Finance Act 2004 (c. 12). The duty to notify does not arise in the cases specified in the Schedule to the Regulations, which details certain steps which, alone or (subject to Rules to 1 to 4 of that Schedule) in combination do not constitute prescribed arrangements for the purposes of the Regulations.

These Regulations impose new costs on business. A regulatory impact assessment is available on HM Revenue & Customs website (
www.hmrc.gov.gsi.uk).


Notes:

[1] 2004 c. 12. Section 318 is cited because of the meaning it ascribes to "prescribed".back

[2] 2003 c. 14. Section 48(7) was inserted by section 297(3) and paragraph 4(2) of Part 1 of Schedule 39 to the Finance Act 2004.back

[3] 1988 c. 1. Section 839 was amended by paragraph 20 of Schedule 17 to the Finance Act 1995 (c. 4).back

[4] Section 57A was inserted by paragraph 16 of Part 2 of Schedule 39 to the Finance Act 2004.back

[5] Section 64A was inserted by paragraph 18 of Part 2 of Schedule 39 to the Finance Act 2004.back

[6] Schedule 6A was inserted by paragraph 17(2) of Part 2 of Schedule 39 to the Finance Act 2004.back

[7] Section 71A was inserted by paragraph 2 of Schedule 8 to the Finance Act 2005 (c. 7).back

[8] Section 72 was amended by paragraph 3(1) and (6) of Schedule 8 to the Finance Act 2005.back

[9] Section 72A was inserted by paragraph 4 of Schedule 8 to the Finance Act 2005.back

[10] Section 73 was amended by paragraph 5(2) of of Schedule 8 to the Finance Act 2005.back

[11] 1994 c. 16. Paragraph 2 has been amended by sections 36 and 37 of, and Part IV(2) of Schedule 18 to, the Finance Act 1997 (c. 16), article 2(a) of S.I. 1994/3013, article 3 of S.I. 1995/279, article 2(a) of S.I. 1997/51, articles 2 and 4 of S.I. 1999/593 and articles 2 and 4 of S.I. 2004/778.back



ISBN 0 11 073077 1


 © Crown copyright 2005

Prepared 15 July 2005


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