HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) and the Treasury have responded to the legal team representing two landlords challenging forthcoming buy-to-let tax changes. However, the comments cannot be made public.
HMRC and Treasury Respond to Landlords’ Challenge of Tax Changes
Back in January, we reported that Steve Bolton and Chris Cooper are calling for a judicial review of section 24 of the Finance (No. 2) Act 2015, which includes the planned reduction in buy-to-let mortgage interest tax relief.
Chancellor George Osborne announced the proposal in the summer Budget 2015.
Bolton and Cooper described the announcement as ending “a long-established principle of taxation that expenses incurred wholly and exclusively for the purposes of the business are deductible when calculating the taxable profits”.
The two landlords previously expected the response to their legal challenge to arrive by 16th March.
Now, they can confirm that the two Government departments have responded with an Acknowledgement of Service, which sets out the grounds on which the departments intend to contest the application for a judicial review.
On the campaign’s Facebook page, the landlords state: “We have received a reply from HMRC and HM Treasury. We now need to speak with our lawyers before issuing any form of statement to ensure that our case is not prejudiced in any way. Sorry we can’t share more at this stage, but it is critical we take legal advice and ensure we follow the correct protocols.”1
The landlords previously expected the response to be aggressive, but they cannot confirm whether this is the case.
Omnia Strategy LLP, the firm led by Cherie Blair QC, represents the landlords.
1 https://www.facebook.com/clause24/?fref=nf