Tax News

Tax News: March 2024

In this podcast, Zoe Andrews and Tanja Velling share thoughts on the Spring Budget and the following recent cases: the Court of Appeal’s decision in Clipperton on a dividend replacement scheme, and the First-tier Tribunal’s decisions in Keighley, Stolkin and Mahmood, focussing respectively on the meaning of “control”, the question whether a company was trading following the appropriation to trading stock of land purchased as an investment, and whether a transaction was void because of a mistake as to its tax consequences.

The podcast also covers recent changes to HMRC’s guidance in respect of the salaried members rules and stamp taxes on shares as well as the call for evidence on the tax administration framework. Zoe and Tanja further touch on challenges to DAC6 and FATCA, the UN’s work on a framework convention on tax cooperation and other international tax news.

Tax News: February 2024

In this podcast, Zoe Andrews and Tanja Velling discuss two First-tier Tribunal decisions. One is a fun case and they’ve set this up a mystery to be solved in the first few minutes of the podcast. The other FTT decision is Bolt Services on the VAT treatment of taxi rides booked through a ride-hailing app. 

The podcast also covers the Court of Appeal’s decision in Dolphin Drilling considering the meaning of the word “incidental”; the immediate context for the decision is the hire cap under the oil contractors’ regime, but the decision may have implications in other tax contexts, such as for determining whether something is a “main purpose” for the unallowable purpose test in the loan relationships regime. 

Zoe and Tanja further discuss new HMRC guidance on transfer pricing, the summary of responses to HMRC’s consultation on reforming transfer pricing, permanent establishments and Diverted Profits Tax legislation and HMRC’s latest transfer pricing and DPT statistics, as well as the OECD’s ICAP statistics and Pillar 2 impact assessment.

Tax News: Bonus Episode

To celebrate the launch of our new Tax News shows, we have released an extra episode so you can find out more about the hosts of our monthly episodes, Zoe Andrews and Tanja Velling.

Tax News: January 2024

In this podcast, Zoe Andrews and Tanja Velling discuss the First-tier Tribunal’s decision in Harber on the dangers of relying on legal research conducted by generative AI, certain points on tiered partnership structures and the Ramsay doctrine from the Court of Appeal’s decision in BCM Cayman, and the CJEU’s decision in the Amazon State aid case. The podcast also covers the summary of responses in respect of HM Treasury’s consultation on the VAT Treatment of Fund Management Services, changes to HMRC’s guidance on foreign entity classification and the latest Pillar Two-related materials published by the OECD and HMRC.

Tax News Highlights: December 2023

In this podcast, Zoe Andrews, Tanja Velling and Nele Dhondt discuss the CJEU decision in the Engie State aid case, the Advocate General's opinion in the Apple State aid case, the UK Supreme Court's decisions in Skatteforvaltningen and in Fisher on the transfer of assets abroad regime.

The podcast also covers the UN Resolution on a framework convention on international tax cooperation and the OECD’s Tax Certainty Day and MAP statistics.

Tax News Highlights: November 2023

In this podcast, Emma Game and Tanja Velling discuss the Supreme Court’s decision in Vermilion considering whether a particular securities option was employment-related, the Court of Appeal’s decision in Delinian (formerly Euromoney) on the purpose test in the capital gains tax reorganisation rules, and the Upper Tribunal’s decision in Refinitiv, a judicial review case where the taxpayers argued that a diverted profits tax notice was inconsistent with an advance pricing agreement.

Tax News Highlights: October 2023

In this podcast, Zoe Andrews and Tanja Velling discuss the Upper Tribunal’s decision in ScottishPower on the deductibility of payments made pursuant to an agreement with the regulator at the end of an investigation and the Supreme Court’s decision in Target Group on the scope of the VAT exemption for financial services.

The podcast also covers draft legislation for Finance Bill 2023-24 in respect of the removal of the 1.5% stamp duty and SDRT charge on issues and transfers integral to capital raisings and further changes to the UK’s implementation of the Pillar Two GloBE Rules. Zoe and Tanja discuss the draft legislation for the transitional UTPR safe harbour and the QDMTT safe harbour, and how tax imposed under the Subject-to-Tax Rule fits within the GloBE rules.

They further touch on developments in respect of the Multilateral Convention to Implement Amount A of Pillar One and the European Commission’s proposals for two new corporate tax directives concerning, respectively, the harmonisation of the corporate income tax base under the Business in Europe: Framework for Income Taxation (BEFIT) and the incorporation of the arm’s length principle and OECD Transfer Pricing Guidelines into EU law.

Tax News Highlights: September 2023

In this podcast, Zoe Andrews and Tanja Velling discuss the Upper Tribunal’s decisions in JTI Acquisitions Company on the loan relationships unallowable purpose rule, Hotel La Tour on input tax recovery in respect of advisers’ fees on a share sale to raise funds for downstream economic activity, and M Group Holdings on the substantial shareholding exemption. They also discuss the First-tier Tribunal’s decision in Wilkinson on the unallowable purpose rule in the capital gains tax reorganisation rules.

The podcast further covers certain draft legislation for Finance Bill 2023-24 published on 18 July 2023, including the proposal for a single merged regime for tax reliefs for research and development, and provides an update on international tax reform, focussing the UK’s proposed implementation of the UTPR, and the QDMTT safe harbour and transitional UTPR safe harbour in the second tranche of Administrative Guidance published on 17 July 2023 by the Inclusive Framework.