UK: Issues relating to stamp duty land tax (court decisions)
Recent decisions of Upper Tribunal and Scottish First-tier Tribunal (Tax)
The Upper Tribunal held that the 20-year time limit under the anti-avoidance rule in Section 75A, for HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) to issue discovery assessments, applied to stamp duty land tax (SDLT) assessments on marketed SDLT schemes entered into by the taxpayer in order to eliminate the SDLT due on the purchase of residential properties.
The case is: Scatola & Ors v. HMRC (formerly known as Rakshit & Ors)
Read an August 2025 report prepared by the KPMG member firm in the UK
In addition, the Scottish First-tier Tribunal (Tax) (FTT) held that “minutes of variation” to extend the term of a lease originally granted under the SDLT regime did not give rise to a deemed grant of a new lease for Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (LBTT) purposes under Article 13 of the LBTT law.
The case is: Archer (UK) Ltd v. Rev Scot
Read an August 2025 report prepared by the KPMG member firm in the UK