Farnborough Airport Properties Ltd: control for group relief purposes

In Farnborough Airport Properties Ltd and others v HMRC, the First-tier Tribunal held that a company placed into receivership was, from the date of appointment of the receiver, no longer entitled to surrender group relief to other companies in its group, as entering into receivership constituted ‘arrangements’ for the company to cease to be under the same control as the other group members. Although the tribunal’s decision was fact specific, the case represents an interesting extension of HMRC’s views about when certain other insolvency procedures (such as administration and administrative receivership) amount to a change of control for group relief purposes (which itself is not free from controversy); and has potentially significant ramifications.