376.Part 2 of the Schedule provides for “reconstruction relief” so that, where the specified conditions are met, a scheme for reconstruction of a company (the “target company”) does not attract a charge to LTT. Reconstruction relief is provided for land transactions connected to the transfer of the whole or part of an undertaking from a target company (“T”) to an acquiring company (“A”), which form part of a scheme for the reconstruction of T. The consideration for the acquisition must be wholly or partly non-redeemable shares issued in A to T’s shareholders, and where the consideration is only partly non-redeemable shares, the rest of the consideration must only consist of the assumption or discharge by A of T’s liabilities. ‘Non-redeemable shares’ are shares that are not redeemable; they may be traded or held to maturity but cannot be bought back by the issuing company at a future date. A key condition of reconstruction relief is that, following the acquisition, a shareholder of T must also be a shareholder of A, and vice versa. Further, any shareholder must hold the same proportion of shares in T and A (or as close as possible). As with group relief, the reconstruction must be for genuine commercial reasons and must not form part of any arrangement to avoid the payment of LTT.
Commentary on Sections Schedule 17 - Reconstruction and acquisition reliefs Part 2 - Reconstruction relief