Documents rectified by court following mistake by advisor
A helpful judgment summarizing the circumstances where documents can be rectified to give effect to the parties intentions following a mistake. In this case the accountant miscalculated the number of shares necessary for the parties to qualify for entrepreneurs tax relief and the court rectified the erroneous numbers allowing the tax relief to be claimed.Prowting 1968 Trustee One Ltd and others v Amos-Yeo & another [2015] EWHC 2480 (Ch) (Bailii).
The High Court (Master Clark) has ordered the rectification of two share acquisition agreements so as to increase the number of shares transferred by trustees, finding that the evidence established that the intention of the parties was that the number of shares transferred would satisfy the requirements for entrepreneur's relief. In this application for the rectification of agreements, in which the stated number of shares transferred by the settlement trustees did not meet the required 5% of nominal share capital to qualify for entrepreneur's relief, Master Clark applied the established legal principles for rectification of an instrument for common mistake and the case was decided on the facts. ”
