Paying for fixtures and fittings to avoid stamp duty

N79

jockosjungle wrote: »

Yes there would definitely be a penalty, and a hefty one for purposefully avoiding tax

R

There is no penalty for avoiding tax - people do it all the time.

The penalties come when HMRC decided that you did not avoid the tax but evaded it.

FTBFun

Odd that I work as a tax adviser (a qualified one), and our firm would never push this kind of "planning" to anyone.

8 grand of fees would be nice, too.

DarrenTMH

Hi again, thanks for the most recent points raised, at risk of taking over this I'll just continue this aspect of the conversation a little further as seems appropriate, but I apologise for triggering such a departure from the OP's original topic within his thread.

bitsandpieces - you're quite right, my choice of words in the 'things to look for in a scheme' section has definite scope for causing confusion and it is important to be clear with these things - I'll see if I can make an edit to that so that readers do not get the wrong idea, which I can of course see may easily occur with that wording being present. To clarify again, HMRC do not grant approved status to any tax avoidance scheme, although one may form an opinion that if a scheme has been pre-notified to HMRC and subsequently used and that use disclosed to HMRC on numerous occasions without any resulting enquiry being made within the enquiry window available, that HMRC's view is that the scheme is a valid and legal method of tax planning and that to launch an enquiry would be futile and ultimately unsuccessful.

with regard to fines, interest and the pain of fighting with HMRC - you are absolutely right to highlight these areas which are hugely important to cover, and I would always suggest that anyone looking at any provider of SDLT planning services keep these aspects high on their list of questions and to get answers on them that are sufficiently reassuring and satisfactory before instructing them.

some great stuff from you there - I should offer you a job really!

Bananamana - as I said before, advertising one's services and/or self promotion are prohibited on this forum, and because I do not intend to disrespect or breach these rules my post here is in the form of providing information on a topic that I have knowledge on which may be of significant financial benefit of other members. For this reason I don't feel able to respond directly to your point.

I would however like to thank you for further raising awareness of yet another risk that potential clients of SDLT planning services should be aware of and consider strongly when weighing up the risks vs benefits of getting involved in any scheme promoted to them.

• be sure that you are satisfied with the answers you receive regarding the possibility or likelihood of
  • the tax planning being successful
  • the penalties faced in the event of failure
• be sure that you are comfortable with
  • the fees charged by the scheme operator
  • the schedule of fees payable
  • any guarantees offered regarding fee refunds

there are many operators of SDLT planning schemes active in the market, all with differing propositions and aside from a few very dodgy ones, there is no black & white to them being valid or invalid, there are only opinions.

if you are interested in SDLT planning you should seek out a reputable operator and listen to the reasons why the supporting counsel (most operators have at least one) believe that the planning is likely to succeed, both in general and in respect of any specific concerns you may have, many of which have already been highlighted here, and make your own decision as to whether it is something that you feel comfortable entering into.

no tax planning method is guaranteed to work
no tax planning method is without risk
if there is a potential financial gain that you have an interest in realising, always weigh it up against the risks involved and you'll quickly know in your gut if it's for you or not - it certainly is not for everyone (although it was done by the Labour party on the £6m HQ building in London and they saved £210,000 in SDLT that they would otherwise have had to pay - they felt comfortable with it, others may not)

mynameisdave - hello dave, well it wasn't a suggestion, in fact that bit was only there because I copied and pasted the whole post from another thread where some troll had turned up posing as a consumer promoting his company and some forum users pulled him up on it, from where the conversation turned to attacking him both for that and also for his absence from search engine results in his purported field of expertise - it was included to differentiate myself from being perceived as the same (type)

in answer to your question, well I don't have to but I am in business and businesses (for the most part) do tend to market and advertise their services to potential customers, and in this regard mine is no different. With the exception of my activities in this forum where advertising and self promotion are prohibited, answering relevant questions and offering my services as a potential solution is a valid method of marketing and serves to raise awareness of SDLT planning in general and of my business services specifically and, as you'll have noticed, in most or all other forums where I have posted what I hope is useful information, there is usually a weblink, my company name or a phone number as you would expect in any form of advertising or marketing activity undertaken, however all of that is not relevant to the discussion and information here in this thread and on this forum which is not commercial activity on my part hence the absence of any company name, phone number or website - please just take the information provided here and consider it to whatever degree you wish to (bearing in mind that this is stuff posted on an internet forum by someone you do not know and have not verified as being an authoratitive source - I could just be some random loony for all you know) in relation to the topic in question, together with any other information you have and make your own mind up on the matter.

I really don't want to come across as a troll, what I've tried to do here is share information that I have by virtue of my job but which many others may not have, and which is relevant to the situation and which I think may be of benefit to the OP and others here - I'm not selling it, it's free, it's my opinion, others may have differing or conflicting opinions, please take it in the spirit that it's been provided.

many thanks

Darren Ferneyhough

bOingball

DarrenTMH wrote: »

(although it was done by the Labour party on the £6m HQ building in London and they saved £210,000 in SDLT that they would otherwise have had to pay - they felt comfortable with it, others may not)

Labour's 'tax dodge' on sale of HQ saved £210,000 stamp duty

The Independent on Sunday has learnt that Labour sold its Westminster headquarters this year using a specially created company. The device, which Labour insists is a normal commercial transaction, cost the Treasury about £210,000 in lost stamp duty.

Had the property been sold on its own, the buyer would have had to pay £240,000 in stamp duty but by selling the company which owned it, the purchaser would have to pay only £30,000 - 0.5 per cent in stamp duty instead of 4 per cent.

Just encase anyone wants to read up on that - I don't think I'll convert my home to a business and sell it to save stamp duty though :rotfl: