Summary:
This case concerned whether sales of four properties which the Appellant had opted to tax qualified as transfers of going concerns (TOGCs). To qualify, the purchaser must, by the ‘relevant date’, have notified its own option to tax the property to HMRC. The FTT held that, where a deposit was paid, the ‘relevant date’ was not the date of completion of the sale but the date on which the deposit was paid to the Appellant’s solicitors. In three of the four cases, the ‘relevant date’ preceded the purchasers’ options, but in the fourth, the deposit was held by an auctioneer and not released to the Appellant’s solicitors until after the purchaser had notified its option to HMRC, so that sale qualified as a TOGC.
