Tax News

Tax News: March 2025

In this podcast, tax associate Stephanie Mullins joins Zoe Andrews and Tanja Velling to discuss the UK Supreme Court’s decision in Royal Bank of Canada which could call into question received wisdom on the Ramsay principle of statutory interpretation.

Zoe and Tanja draw out lessons on evidence and witness selection from the First-tier Tribunal’s decision in Lloyds Asset Leasing before touching on a High Court decision in a VAT-related judicial review, HMRC’s revised view on Condition C in the salaried members rules, updates on changes to inheritance tax reliefs and business rates, and a National Audit Office report on the administrative cost of the UK tax system.

The podcast’s international section focuses on the US with updates on the domestic tax policy process, a new reciprocal trade and tariff policy, and a memorandum which foreshadows US action against digital services taxes and wider policies to regulate digital businesses.

Tax News: February 2025

In this podcast, Tax Associate Nadia Hourihan joins Zoe Andrews and Tanja Velling to discuss the Court of Appeal’s decision in ScottishPower that payments in lieu of penalties are tax deductible (even though no tax deduction would have been available for the penalties themselves).  

Zoe and Tanja further discuss the First-tier Tribunal’s decision in NHS Mid & South Essex that withholding tax applied to an interest element included in certain redress payments.

The podcast also covers the potential impact of President Trump’s inauguration day announcement on international tax reform, before diving into recent UK developments in relation to the multinational top-up tax and the domestic top-up tax (new draft HMRC guidance and government amendments to the Finance Bill) and OECD publications on Pillar Two, including new Administrative Guidance.

Tax News: January 2025

In this podcast, Zoe Andrews and Tanja Velling discuss the First-tier Tribunal’s decision in Blackfriars Hotel applying an anti-avoidance provision in the loss relief regime to a loss-refreshing transaction reminiscent of the Kwik-Fit unallowable purpose case.

They also discuss the First-tier Tribunal’s decision in Grint on the sale of occupational income rules (which had been used by HMRC as an alternative argument in the BlueCrest, HFFX and BCG  partnership remuneration cases) and the Court of Appeal’s decision in Refinitiv, a judicial review case concerning the compatibility of diverted profits tax notices with a prior advance pricing agreement.

They are then joined by Tax Associate Kasim Mehmood for a discussion of the Supreme Court’s approach to interpreting tax legislation in Cobalt Data Centre and changes to HMRC’s capital gains manual in respect of the reorganisation rules.

The podcast also covers PISCES, a proposed new type of regulated trading platform for private shares, and what 2025 might bring in terms of UK, EU and US tax developments, including (in case of the UK) various consultations on changes to the transfer pricing rules as well as potential enquiry activity in this area.

Tax News - U.S. tax policy post-election

In this special episode of our Tax News podcast, Zoe Andrews and Tanja Velling asked Arvind Ravichandran, Tax Partner at Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP, what U.S. tax policy may look like during a second Trump Administration.

During the episode, we cover:

• The significance of the Republican Party achieving a “trifecta” in the November 2024 elections.
• How tax legislation can be passed by simple majority vote through the Budget Reconciliation process.
• What policy proposals could be on the table and how you can look out for clues as the incoming Administration’s policies develop.

Listen to the podcast to learn more about what might happen next on U.S. tax policy.

Tax News: November 2024

In this podcast, Catrin Young, Senior Professional Support Lawyer in the Pensions Team, joins Zoe Andrews and Tanja Velling to discuss the government’s policy decision at the Autumn Budget to bring unused pension savings and death benefits into the scope of inheritance tax (with the charge to be administered by pension trustees), and HMRC’s recent clarification that the authorised surplus payment charge payable by the trustees of a defined benefits scheme when returning a surplus to an employer is to be calculated by reference to the gross amount of the surplus (rather than the amount received by the employer).

Zoe and Tanja also discuss the increase in late payment interest from April 2025, two updates to HMRC guidance, the UK expert panel’s report on a potential corporate re-domiciliation regime and certain international developments.

The podcast further covers three UK cases: the First-tier Tribunal’s decision in Syngenta, denying interest deductions for a loan created in an intra-group reorganisation under the unallowable purpose rule in section 441 of the Corporation Tax Act 2009, and the Upper Tribunal’s decisions in Gould on the tax point for an interim dividend where two shareholders were paid around eight months apart, and in Panayi on conforming interpretation.

Tax News: October 2024

In this podcast, tax associate Alex Sim joins Zoe Andrews and Tanja Velling to discuss the Upper Tribunal’s decision in Muller on the interaction of certain provisions in the intangible fixed assets regime with the rules on the taxation of partnerships.  

Zoe and Tanja also discuss the CJEU’s decisions in the Apple and UK CFC rules State aid cases, the Supreme Court’s decision in Professional Game Match Officials Limited on employment status and the stamp duty land tax case Brindleyplace in which the First-tier Tribunal employed purposive construction in favour of the taxpayer.

Tax News: September 2024

In this podcast, Zoe Andrews and Tanja Velling highlight points related to the Chancellor’s statement on public spending inheritance. They also discuss updated HMRC guidance on the multinational top-up tax and domestic top-up tax and comments from the business community.

Before moving on to HMRC statistics on the tax take and litigation outcomes for 2023/24, Zoe and Tanja discuss VAT and the Clapham omnibus, two VAT-related developments in the EU and the Supreme Court’s decision in Centrica on the deductibility of M&A advisers’ fees as expenses of management.

How does the purpose of your borrowing impact tax deductibility?

Join Tanja Velling, co-host of our Tax News podcast and Tax Partners, Dominic Robertson and Charles Osborne, as they discuss the unallowable purpose rule, one of the UK's restrictions on companies deducting interest when calculating profits subject to corporation tax.

This episode dives into:

• How this rule disallows interest deductions where a company’s borrowing is for a main tax avoidance purpose; and
• recent Court of Appeal decisions on what constitutes a main tax avoidance purpose and what this means for taxpayers, particularly in an M&A context.