Tax News

Tax News Highlights: June 2023

In this podcast, Zoe Andrews and Tanja Velling are joined by Nele Dhondt to discuss the EU’s Foreign Subsidies Regulation, how it could apply in the tax context and what steps can be taken to prepare for its coming into force. They also discuss the Advocate General’s opinion in the Amazon State aid case, recommending that the Court of Justice upholds the General Court’s decision that had annulled the European Commission’s finding of State aid.

In relation to the UK, the podcast considers HMRC’s draft guidance on the multinational top-up tax (the first tranche of which has been published for consultation until 12 September) and HMRC’s updated guidance on the loan relationships unallowable purpose test.

Zoe and Tanja also discuss the consultation on the reform of the UK’s transfer pricing, permanent establishment and Diverted Profits Tax legislation, the announcement of the “Energy Security Investment Mechanism” which should effectively bring forward the end date of the Energy (Oil and Gas) Profits Levy if oil and gas prices fall below certain thresholds, and the Upper Tribunal’s decision in Hargreaves Property Holdings on interest withholding tax.

Tax News Highlights - May 2023

In this podcast, Zoe Andrews and Tanja Velling discuss the Court of Appeal’s decision in McClean v Thornhill KC on duty of care in the context of tax advice, the First-tier Tribunal’s decision in Buckingham on the tax treatment of a US dividend, the Upper Tribunal’s decision in Spring Capital on whether questions of Scots law are questions of fact or law, and the Advocate General’s opinion in the Engie State aid case.

They further discuss the consultations on the modernisation of stamp taxes on shares and the introduction of a new fund structure, the Reserved Investor Fund (Contractual Scheme), which were published as part of the Tax Administration and Maintenance Day on 27 April 2023. The podcast also covers the potential QDMTT safe harbour, the status of Pillar Two implementation across different jurisdictions, and a Brexit-related change to HMRC’s practice on late payment interest as well as an update on the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill.

Tax News Highlights: March 2023

In this podcast, Zoe Andrews and Tanja Velling discuss a few highlights from the Spring Budget, including certain pensions tax changes, the temporary introduction of full expensing for expenditure that would otherwise attract capital allowances at the main rate of 18%, an update on tax reliefs for research and development and changes to the application of certain administrative provisions in respect of the assessment of capital gains tax (or corporation tax on chargeable gains) on the completion of unconditional contracts. 

Tax News Highlights: February 2023

In this podcast, Zoe Andrews and Tanja Velling discuss the Upper Tribunal’s decisions in Harrison, confirming the demise of the doctrine of “staleness” in relation to discovery assessments, and Morrisons on the standard to be applied when reviewing the First-tier Tribunal’s assessment of a multi-factorial test. 

They also discuss HMRC’s Transfer Pricing and Diverted Profits Tax statistics for 2021-2022, showing inter alia a significant reduction in the number of Advance Thin Capitalisation Agreements, and the report on HMRC’s Financial Institution Notice powers, confirming that HMRC will not use the powers to request taxpayer location data, but may use them to request information on a financial institution’s employees and contractors. 

The podcast further provides an update on international tax reform, looking in particular at the impact assessment and administrative guidance recently published by the OECD, discusses the OECD’s new Manual on the Handling of Multilateral Mutual Agreement Procedures and Advance Pricing Arrangements and notes HM Treasury’s more detailed response to its online sales tax consultation, following the announcement at the Autumn Statement that no such tax would be introduced.

Tax News Highlights: January 2023

In this podcast, Zoe Andrews and Tanja Velling discuss the decision in Urenco Chemplants where the Court of Appeal corrected a drafting error in the Capital Allowances Act 2001 and a range of other UK developments, including the technical consultation on the VAT treatment of fund management services, the evaluation plan for the notification of uncertain tax treatment for large businesses, the extension of the definition of “investment transaction” for the purposes of the investment management exemption to include cryptoassets, the draft guidance on upcoming changes to the R&D tax reliefs regime, the Office of Tax Simplification’s report on hybrid and distance working and the draft regulations for the new transfer pricing documentation requirement.

Tax News Highlights: December 2022

In this podcast, Zoe Andrews and Tanja Velling discuss the UK’s first comprehensive tax treaty with Brazil which was signed on 29 November 2022 as well as certain highlights from the Autumn Statement and in relation to the Autumn and Spring Finance Bills, including an update on the UK’s implementation of Pillar Two and the new Electricity Generator Levy to be legislated for in the Spring Finance Bill.

The podcast also covers two recent cases: the Court of Appeal’s decision in Centrica on the deductibility of advisory fees incurred in relation to the realisation of an investment as investment management expenses under section 1219 of the Corporation Tax Act 2009 and the Upper Tribunal’s decision in Kwik-Fit on the loan relationships unallowable purpose test in section 441 of the same Act. Zoe and Tanja further provide an update on the UK’s proposed replacement of its scaled-back DAC6 implementation and the National Audit Office Report on the Digital Services Tax.

Tax New Highlights: November 2022

In this podcast, Zoe Andrews and Tanja Velling discuss the CJEU’s decision in Fiat on fiscal State aid and the Supreme Court’s decision in NHS Lothian on historic claims for input tax recovery. They also discuss UK Finance’s report on the total tax contribution of the UK banking sector, the designation of the 2022 edition of the OECD’s Transfer Pricing Guidelines under TIOPA and the removal of the expiry date for the regulatory capital exemption from the UK’s anti-hybrid rules.

The podcast covers the OECD’s “Progress Report on the Administration and Tax Certainty Aspects of Amount A of Pillar One” and its report on “Tax Incentives and the Global Minimum Corporate Tax” as well as the Public Accounts Committee’s inquiry into the UK’s digital services tax. Zoe and Tanja also discuss the recent signature of two separate multilateral competent authority agreements on the automatic exchange of, respectively, information reported by digital platform operators on their sellers and information reported by intermediaries (or, in certain circumstances, taxpayers) in relation to arrangements intended to circumvent the Common Reporting Standard or structures that disguise the beneficial ownership of assets, in each case in the context of existing or proposed UK regulations on the topic.

Tax News Highlights: October 2022

In this podcast, Zoe Andrews and Tanja Velling discuss the First-tier Tribunal’s decision in Burlington Loan Management considering the purpose test in Article 12 (Interest) of the UK/Ireland double tax treaty and two decision of the Upper Tribunal: Aozora GMAC concerning the interaction between the UK/US double tax treaty and the UK’s rules on unilateral relief and Pickles considering the interpretation of “market value” and “new consideration” in the context of deemed distributions under section 1020 of the Corporation Tax Act 2010.  

Zoe and Tanja also discuss the decision of the Inner House of the Court of Session in Ventgrove on the interaction between VAT law and the break clause in a lease, and the Advocate General’s opinion in Gallaher on the compatibility of the UK's group transfer rules with EU fundamental freedoms.

The podcast further considers the potential impact of the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill in the tax context as well as announcements made as part of the Growth Plan announced by the Chancellor on 23 September 2022, including proposals to reverse the planned increase in the rate of corporation tax, abolish the health and social care levy before it takes effect, undo the 2017 and 2021 changes to the IR35 rules and make the temporary £1 million level of the annual investment allowance permanent.