The appeal was brought by Heather Whyte and related to two closure notices issued by HMRC on her tax returns issued after the sale of multiple plots of land on her estate. The appeal to the First Tier Tribunal focused on the tax treatment of the sale of plots of land in 2003 and 2006 from the Grade I listed building, Bunny Hall Estate at Loughborough.

Following inquiries from HMRC into the sales, the tax authority issued two closure notices in 2007 and 2009 and amended Whyte’s self assessment returns for the tax years of 2003-04 and 2005-06.

The amounts of tax at issue in this appeal were the income tax on trade profits of £736,291 and capital gains tax (CGT) of £291,516.40 in 2003-04, relating to the sales of plots one to four at the estate, and the income tax on trade profits of £414,912 and CGT of £162,564.80 in 2005-06 for the sales of plots five and six.

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