The appellant jointly owned a property with a business associate and their respective wives. The property, which comprised of a shop on the ground floor and offices on the first and second floors, was sold at a gain in July 2007. 

The appellant’s tax return for 2007/08 was submitted to HMRC on 5 August 2008. The return included a claim for business asset taper relief on his share of the gain. The appellant considered that business asset taper relief was due because the property was let to unlisted trading companies. HMRC opened an enquiry into the return by a letter dated 29 July 2009, and ascertained that the tenants were, for relief purposes, 51% subsidiaries of their parent companies, both of which were ‘listed’. HMRC subsequently issued a closure notice disallowing the business asset taper relief claimed, on the basis that the appellant was not entitled to it (and similar notices were