David Hannah, the founder of advice firm Cornerstone, has been fined for avoiding stamp duty and faces further disciplinary action after losing an appeal.

The Upper Tax Tribunal ordered Mr Hannah to repay the £30,600 stamp duty he avoided, plus a penalty of over £17,000 after listing the deposit he paid for the property rather than its full purchase price with the Land Registry when purchasing a property in Leicestershire in 2011.

According to a report in The Times newspaper, he then paid the balance of the £765,000 property value to the sellers via an annuity registered in the British Virgin Islands.

According to the report, HMRC described the scheme as “a clear attempt at stamp duty avoidance”.

The ruling came after the judge upheld the verdict of a first tier tribunal in 2019 that Mr Hannah’s avoidance of stamp duty had been “deliberate” and that he had refused to give evidence himself to explain why this was not so.

Last year Mr Hannah was ordered to pay nearly £60,000 in penalties, fines and court costs by the Taxation Disciplinary Board, when it found he had played down the risks of a stamp duty avoidance scheme to a client.

According to the report in The Times, other cases are to be brought against Cornerstone by clients who are themselves now being pursued for tax avoidance by HMRC.