Reeves and CGT holdover relief: better off alone?

The FTT has handed down a decision which precludes the use of holdover relief from CGT on a gift of business assets made by a non-UK resident to a company of which he is the sole shareholder if he has a non-UK resident spouse (or other relative). The pivotal importance placed on the residency of the taxpayer’s spouse appears arbitrary. But as it happened in the circumstances, it did succeed in denying the relief in a scenario where the taxpayer might otherwise have been able effectively to engineer a third party disposal without paying CGT. The decision has been appealed.