Ashley Greenbank (Macfarlanes) examines the draft regulations issued following the Autumn Statement announcement to prevent the use of cancellation schemes as a means of reducing stamp duty and SDRT costs on takeovers
Perhaps one of the more surprising announcements in the Autumn Statement was the proposal to prevent the use of cancellation schemes as a means of reducing the stamp duty costs on takeovers.
It was surprising for two reasons. First was the timing – court schemes have been a relatively standard means of implementing public company takeovers for many years without any sign that the government or HMRC took any exception to them. Second was the chosen means of addressing the issue – which involves changes to the relevant company law provisions rather than the imposition of a stamp duty...
