Tax Talks

The Proskauer Tax Blog

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Stephen Pevsner

Stephen Pevsner is a tax partner and a member of the Private Funds and Private Equity M&A Groups. Stephen's practice covers the broad range of corporate and individual tax advice, with particular emphasis on private fund formation across a wide range of buyout, debt and infrastructure asset classes, as well as UK and international M&A transactions (often private equity backed). He has wide experience in corporate reorganisations, structured finance, investment funds and new business set-ups, and also advises regularly on a wide range of employee and fund manager incentive arrangements arising from these transactions.

Stephen is a member of the BVCA tax Committee and, according to Chambers UK, he is a notable practitioner in the corporate tax field, praised for "his ability to master the intricacies of tax law and understand the commercial aspects of the deal".

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Upcoming changes to the company share options plan regime

Company share option plans (CSOP) and enterprise management incentives (EMI) are two statutory share option regimes that can be used to incentivise employees in a tax-efficient way. Broadly, where the relevant qualifying criteria have been met, both the CSOP and EMI schemes allow employees to acquire shares in their employer (or its group) for less … Continue Reading

HMRC Announces Welcome Changes to the QAHC Regime

On 20 July 2022, the UK government published draft legislation for the Finance Bill 2022-2023. Of particular interest are amendments to be made to the qualifying asset holding company (QAHC) regime that was introduced from 1 April this year. The regime is part of the UK government’s attempt to increase the attractiveness of the UK … Continue Reading

BlueCrest FTT Decision –  Salaried Member Rules and Asset Managers

The recent decision of the First-tier Tribunal (FTT) in BlueCrest Capital Management (UK) LLP v HMRC (29 June 2022) is the first time the UK’s salaried member rules (the Rules) have been considered in the context of an asset management limited liability partnership (LLP). BlueCrest is engaged in providing hedge fund investment management services. In … Continue Reading

HMRC Clarifies Application of QAHC Regime to Corporate Lending Vehicles

HMRC has recently updated the guidance relating to the UK’s new qualifying asset holding company (QAHC) tax regime which was introduced from 1 April 2022. The new guidance clarifies HMRC’s approach to whether corporate lending vehicles used by credit funds should be treated as carrying on an investment activity or a trade in the context … Continue Reading

A step closer to agreement on taxation of the digital world

On 8 October 2021, the OECD released a further statement in relation to the BEPS 2.0 proposals, aimed at addressing taxation of the modern digital economy. This is the latest development in the attempts to more equally share the tax revenue relating to digital services that have led to some jurisdictions, including the UK, introducing … Continue Reading

COVID-19: OECD updates its guidance on residence and permanent establishments

Background From the beginning of the UK’s first lockdown in March of last year we have reported on the impact of the pandemic on individual and corporate tax residence and permanent establishment risk. In April 2020 the OECD published guidance on the impact of COVID-19 on double tax treaties (DTTs), including in relation to tax … Continue Reading

Court of Appeal decides that Jersey companies were UK tax resident

In HMRC v Development Securities, the Court of Appeal (the “CA”) has overruled the Upper Tribunal and agreed with the First-tier Tribunal that the relevant Jersey incorporated subsidiaries of a UK parent were resident in the UK for tax purposes by reason of being centrally managed and controlled in the UK. While of considerable interest, … Continue Reading

New OTS report recommends changes to UK’s capital gains tax regime

The Office of Tax Simplification (OTS) has published its first report following its review of certain aspects of the UK’s capital gains tax regime requested by the Chancellor in July this year with the specific purpose of identifying opportunities relating to technical and administrative issues as well as areas where the present rules can distort … Continue Reading

Chancellor’s Summer Statement focuses on hospitality sector

As the UK’s lockdown is relaxed and unemployment figures are expected to continue to rise, the UK Chancellor gave his summer statement announcing measures to stimulate the economy as it recovers from the effects of coronavirus with a clear emphasis on encouraging people to spend money, particularly in the hospitality sector, to try to protect … Continue Reading

Advisers’ fees non-deductible where management decisions made by parent company

The UK’s First-tier tax tribunal (FTT) has just released an interesting decision considering whether or not expenses incurred by a parent company on advisers’ fees that related to a proposed disposal by a group subsidiary and were charged on to its subsidiary were deductible as expenses of management of the subsidiary under section 1219 of … Continue Reading

IR35 extension to private sector – Finance Bill 2020 amendment on territorial scope

There has been much discussion over the past year or so about the UK government’s proposal to make changes to the application of the off-payroll working (or IR35) tax rules to private sector end clients so as to shift certain employment status assessment and, depending on the circumstances, employment tax payment obligations from the worker’s … Continue Reading

COVID-19: DAC 6 reporting delayed

In light of COVID-19, and in response to requests from European trade associations, the European Commission has published its proposal to amend Directive 2011/16/EU which deals with various strands of administrative co-operation in the field of taxation. Significantly, the proposal includes an extension to the time limit for reporting information under the new rules on … Continue Reading

COVID-19: interim measures on stamp duty announced by HMRC

In response to the COVID-19 crisis HMRC has updated its guidance on the process for getting documents stamped and paying the stamp duty, including that: Stock transfer forms should not be posted to the Stamp Office. Instead an electronic copy (which can be a scanned PDF) should be emailed to HMRC at stampdutymailbox@hmrc.gov.uk. The form … Continue Reading

COVID-19: HMRC Announces its Approach to Company Residence

There has been considerable discussion about the effect that the travel restrictions resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic might have on the tax residence of companies, particularly where directors are stuck in a different jurisdiction and cannot attend board meetings as they would in normal circumstances. On 7 April, HMRC updated its published guidance to discuss … Continue Reading

COVID-19: UK Tax Residence for Companies and Individuals

Introduction In these testing times the ramifications of COVID-19 continue to be felt in every area of personal and corporate life. With lockdowns announced around the world, including in the UK on 23 March 2020, travel has been severely curtailed and business practices are having to change accordingly. Below we discuss what this means for … Continue Reading

COVID-19: UK Chancellor announces measures to support the self-employed

Earlier this evening (26 March 2020) the UK Chancellor announced the new Self-Employed Income Support Scheme to help the self-employed face the economic hardship wrought by the COVID-19 pandemic. Below are the key points: The scheme will provide direct cash grants of 80 per cent of individuals’ taxable profits (based on average monthly trading profit … Continue Reading

Coronavirus: UK Chancellor announces unprecedented measures to support the British economy

Earlier this evening the UK Chancellor announced an economic intervention which is “unprecedented in the history of the British state” with measures to support the United Kingdom economy in the midst of COVID-19. Below are the key measures he announced for businesses: The government is setting up a Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme. The scheme will … Continue Reading

Latest on Abolition of Entrepreneurs’ Relief

There has been much talk recently about “review and reform” (or abolition) of entrepreneurs’ relief. This seems to have moved a step closer this week with Boris Johnson stating that the Treasury are “fulminating” against it on the basis that it made “staggeringly rich” people “even more staggeringly rich”. The debate about this was kicked … Continue Reading

Simplification of UK Partnership Tax Reporting for Investment Fund Partnerships

In the Finance Act 2018, the UK Government enacted a number of changes to the information required in partnership returns that raised the concern of undue and impracticable administrative burden being imposed on UK investment fund partnerships. The changes covered a number of areas, including requiring a UK partnership that had partnerships amongst its partners … Continue Reading
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