»Ê¹ÚÌåÓýapp

HMRC is aware of partnerships being used for SDLT avoidance. »Ê¹ÚÌåÓýapp schemes seen have involved collusion between the vendor and purchaser by setting up a partnership in which they are both partners. »Ê¹ÚÌåÓýapp transfer of the property into the partnership invoked the special Partnership rules in Schedule 15 Finance Act 2003 which uses a formula, known as the Sum of the Lower Proportions (SLP), to arrive at the chargeable consideration. »Ê¹ÚÌåÓýapp schemes all involved manipulation of the SLP to reduce the chargeable consideration. See SDLTM33500 onwards for guidance on SLP.

A statutory fix (FA03/S75C(8) was enacted to bring such arrangements within FA03/S75A from 24 March 2010. Section 75A is an anti-avoidance provision which counters various schemes intended to reduce SDLT liability. You should be alert to the possibility of new schemes being used to avoid SDLT.