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Home Forums Patrick Cannon Can the use of a bare trustee avoid the 3% additional rate of SDLT? Reply To: Can the use of a bare trustee avoid the 3% additional rate of SDLT?

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Patrick
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In principle a simple error in box 57 if that is what happened could be corrected easily by filing an amendment to the return. However in order to persuade HMRC you will need fairly strong evidence to support the existence of a bare trust for the company at the time of purchase and to show that the company qualified for the relief. They may well ask why the property was bought in the name of an individual if a company was going to be the beneficial owner – can you explain this? If you file an amended return it is likely that an enquiry will be opened into the amended return by HMRC and so it might be worth sending copies of the supporting evidence to HMRC at the same time as filing the amendment. It would help also if your solicitor/conveyancer explained to HMRC why the mistake was made. It goes without saying that the evidence of the bare trust should be that which existed at the time of the acquisition and in most cases would consist of an executed trust deed, company minutes and a clear flow of funds from the company via the individual to the vendor. I hope this helps.