HMRC v JN Hanson (Trustee of the William Hanson 1957 Settlement)

In HMRC v JN Hanson (Trustee of the William Hanson 1957 Settlement) (Upper Tribunal – 17 May) a farmhouse had been owned by a settlement and occupied by the son of the settlor until his death in 2002. HMRC issued a notice of determination charging IHT on the property. The trustee of the settlement appealed contending that the farmhouse qualified for agricultural property relief. The FTT accepted this contention and allowed the appeal. Judge Walters declined to follow obiter dicta of the Special Commissioner in Rosser v CIR [2003] SSCD 311 and held that the effect of IHTA 1984 s 115(2) was that ‘cottages farm buildings and farmhouses in the third limb of the definition must be of a character appropriate to agricultural land or pasture (including woodland and any building within the second limb of the definition) in the same...