Man who invented the Blackberry and is still worth £460m loses £1.2m stamp duty battle with HMRC

The inventor of the once sought-after Blackberry mobile device has lost a hefty £1.2 million tax battle over unpaid stamp duty.

Mike Lazardis, 63, was hailed as a groundbreaking techie when his indispensable smartphone was launched in the early 1990s.

But the gadget was forgotten by the arrival of Apple’s iPhone.

Once worth around £3 billion, the Greek-Canadian electrical engineer now invests in quantum computing technology and lives on a more modest fortune of £460 million with his wife Ophelia in Hertfordshire.

His luxury estate, located near the posh village of Cuffley and for which he paid £10.75 million in February 2022, has become the subject of a tax row in recent months.

The lavish five-bedroom detached property, called Woodlands, features landscaped gardens, a heated outdoor pool and tennis court, in addition to a lake, coach house and three self-contained cottages.

An estate agent’s brochure for the 45-year-old property describes it as ‘an exceptional Nash-style villa with three cottages on a mature parkland estate of 106 hectares’.

Lazardis argued that since 40 hectares of his estate was used to make hay by an outside company, which had paid the previous owner £1,400 a year for the privilege of cutting the grass, his estate had a mixed commercial and residential use.

As such, Woodlands qualified for a stamp duty discount and Lazardis only had to pay a mixed use rate of up to 5 percent, compared to a maximum of 12 percent.

But officials at His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) didn’t see it that way, saying the property was entirely residential.

A year after purchasing Woodlands, Lazardis received a bill for £1.2 million.

Despite an appeal, a tax court has now ruled that he is eligible for the full amount because the fields were not ‘regularly actively and substantially exploited’ to make them a commercial operation.

Joseph Adunse, tax partner at accountancy firm Moore Kingston Smith, told The Times that HMRC had previously challenged property owners who were ‘trying their luck’.

‘But in this case there was a significant amount of land, some of which was indisputably cultivated, and on the face of it the tribunal’s decision appears unfair.’

A government spokesperson said: ‘We welcome this decision, which confirms our position that the land purchased forms part of the garden and grounds of the property and is in line with HMRC guidance on this subject.’

HMRC has previously imposed heavy stamp duty on owners after they purchased properties.

In 2021, billionaire developers Christian and Nick Candy were charged almost £4 million for a single purchase after falling through a legal loophole.

Nick called HMRC’s decision ‘blatantly unfair’ after the brothers had to pay tax twice on the purchase of a Georgian country house in London.

Christian, 46, and Nick, 48, were both ordered to pay stamp duty land tax (SDLT) of £1.92 million on the west London estate.

They fell victim to a law designed to prevent buyers from avoiding taxes by transferring ownership during a sale.

A tribunal backed the government’s decision after Christian started building Gordon House, despite the purchase not being completed. This led to the rule that the purchase had been ‘substantially effected’.

This meant that when he decided not to move in and instead gave it to his brother – who completed the purchase – he still had to pay stamp duty.

His brother, who had completed the sale, also had to pay.

When Christian tried to claim a refund because he had never personally completed the property, he was told that he had transferred ownership six months late.

According to an Upper Tax Tribunal judgment, he had just 12 months under HMRC rules to transfer the property without being liable for stamp duty.

Christian took 18 months to transfer ownership – during which time he began extensive building work, including an 60-foot swimming pool and cinema, paying £27.4 million.