Tax legislation, and the decisions of tax courts and tribunals, can sometimes appear to be full of surprises. The decision of the UK’s Court of Appeal in Hargreaves Property Holdings Limited [2024] EWCA Civ 365,...more
Companies must approach HMRC with suitable care when proposing a restructuring plan, mindful of lessons learned from recent case law. Ever since unpaid taxes due to HMRC were “crammed down” pursuant to a restructuring plan...more
A recent decision has helped to frame the tests articulated by the Supreme Court in Sequana. The Supreme Court’s landmark decision in Sequana[2022] UKSC 25.leaves many unanswered questions, and finding a common thread...more
The European Commission put forward a proposal in 2021 to tackle shell entities (known as ATAD 3). Despite widespread support for the concept, reaching agreement on the technical details of the Unshell Directive has proved...more
The Spanish interest limitation rule establishes that net financial expenses are deductible for Spanish Corporate Income Tax ("CIT”) purposes with the annual limit of the higher of (i) 30% of the Tax EBITDA (as defined in the...more
The UK’s First-tier Tribunal (“FTT”) has denied a taxpayer a deduction for contributions to a remuneration trust on the basis that such payments did not give rise to an expense under generally accepted accounting principles...more
Every year, the IRS issues a list of the top 12 scams and schemes for taxpayers to take caution to avoid. While the first of April marked the annual “April Fools” period, I don’t want you to be fooled by IRS scams. So, while...more
On 14 February, the EU Council added four jurisdictions (the British Virgin Islands, Costa Rica, Marshall Islands and Russia) to the list of non-cooperative jurisdictions (Annex I) (the “EU Blacklist”)....more
At its dawn, the ATAD 3 Proposal and its adverse tax consequences were considered by some as the demise of international investment and holding structures. Others pointed out the uncertainties surrounding key terms related to...more
Further to the request of the European Parliament for concerted EU action, the European Commission issued on 22 December 2021 a proposal for a Council Directive laying down rules to prevent the misuse of shell entities...more
A draft EU Council directive, known as ATAD 3, was issued by the European Commission as a proposal at the end of last year. The directive is aimed at countering the misuse of 'shell' entities and could impose adverse tax and...more
UK Case Law Developments - Taxpayer treated as receiving distribution in tax avoidance case - We reported on First-tier Tribunal’s (FTT’s) decision in Dunsby v Revenue & Customs in our June 2020 UK Tax Round Up. By way...more
The Chancellor of the Exchequer delivered the United Kingdom (“UK”) Autumn Budget for 2021 on 27 October 2021. The Budget was delivered against the backdrop of the UK’s ongoing recovery from the Covid‑19 pandemic and the...more
In Haworth v HMRC the Supreme Court (SC) upheld the Court of Appeal’s (CA’s) decision to quash a follower notice (FN) and accelerated payment notice (APN) issued to the taxpayer, Mr Haworth. An FN can be issued by HMRC where...more
UK Case Law Developments - Income tax consequences of pension-related payments in E.ON v HMRC - E.ON v HMRC concerned a large UK power and gas supplier, which paid certain lump sum payments, called “facilitation...more
Tax avoidance is the process of manipulating tax rules to reduce the amount of tax payable and obtaining a financial advantage that was never the intention of the legislation. A typical example of tax avoidance involves the...more
On May 18, 2021, the European Commission (the Commission) of the European Union (the EU) published a communication on “Business Taxation for the 21st Century” (the Communication), setting out a long-term vision to provide a...more
Spring Budget and Tax Day - After months of speculation about the possibility that capital gains tax (CGT) rates would be increased in the Spring Budget, both it and the government’s follow up “Tax Day” on 23 March passed...more
UK Case Law Developments - EIS relief not available for shares carrying preferential rights - The Upper Tribunal (UT) in Foojit v HMRC dismissed the taxpayer’s appeal against the First-tier Tribunal’s (FTT’s) decision...more
With effect from December 1, 2020, Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs ("HMRC") ranks ahead of floating charge holders and unsecured creditors with respect to recovering certain pre-insolvency taxes from an insolvent business...more
UK COVID-19 Developments - Extension of support for retail, leisure and hospitality businesses - Further to the extension of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (or furlough scheme), reported in the November issue of...more
UK COVID-19 Developments - Extension of support for employed and self-employed workers - On 5 November, the UK Chancellor announced the extension of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (or furlough scheme) to the end...more
The European Council has announced its decision to remove the Cayman Islands from the EU list of non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes. In February we reported on Cayman’s inclusion on the list and our expectation...more
UK COVID-19 Developments - Furlough not detrimental to EMI options held on 19 March 2020 - On 26 June, the government introduced a new provision into the Finance Bill that provides that the period during which an...more
I say Settlor… The popularity of lifetime trust giving in the UK has been on a downward trend since April 2006 when the Labour government introduced reforms specifically aimed at stopping trusts “being used to shelter wealth...more