HMRC had a buoyant year end in March 2016, as a result of the Stamp Duty increase deadline; a record high in stamp duty receipts was recorded.

A YouGov survey concluded that the majority of public opinion gave overwhelming support to the increase in stamp duty, because they believed that the benefit will be passed to First Time buyers. The outcome remains to be seen.

Things became more difficult for HMRC when in an embarrassing (for them) judgement handed down by the Court of Appeal, it was pointed out to HMRC that they had pursued the wrong party when seeking the payment of £50 million stamp duty due as a result of the sale of the Chelsea Barracks in 2007. It seems that the true owner of the property is the Qatar based bank Masraf al Rayan, though the purchaser was an investment company ultimately owned by the Qatar Investment -Authority. HMRC will appeal, apparently, but we can’t help thinking that there wouldn’t be many UK based purchasers that could get away without paying Stamp Duty!