According to the style guide, applied chords should be preferred if they resolve to the target chord. However, I’ve had the bII/vi chords edited out of some of my transcriptions in favor of the borrowed spelling bVII. I understand that bII/ is intended for tritone substitutions of V/ secondary dominant chords, so should I use more discretion to only use it when the corresponding V/ chord would be expected?
I personally think it’s really difficult to justify secondary tritone subs outside of a jazz context, especially when the chord in question is available from parallel modes. Labeling a supermodal chord like bV7 as bII7/IV would probably be within reason if it resolves accordingly, but assuming that a simple bVII was intended as a secondary tritone sub is a bit of a stretch if you ask me. I think a good rule of thumb would be to use the simplest available notation whenever possible, so as not to unnecessarily complicate the transcription.
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