Readers’ forum: When is a cessation not a cessation?

A client has come up with an interesting question on overlap relief.

He has carried on a business for many years operating a shop which does a mainly seasonal trade but which operates all year.

He has a significant amount of overlap relief. Overlap can be used on a cessation and he has suggested that if he shuts his shop over the winter months he could claim to have ceased to trade and thus make use of the overlap relief. He would be better off in net terms if he did that as the tax saving would outweigh the minimal amount of income he earns in the winter. He could then reopen the shop in the spring.

Do readers see any problems with this – is there a danger that HMRC would say that the business had not really ceased even though the shop would have closed its...