On 16 July 2024, the UK Supreme Court (SC) published its judgment in the case of Centrica Overseas Holdings Ltd (COHL) v HMRC. The ruling addresses the issue of whether professional advisory fees incurred in contemplation of a sale of a group company (actually resulting in a sale of
UK Tax
HMRC updates guidance on UK tax status of non-UK entities and US LLCs post Anson
On 6 December, HMRC updated the section in its International Manual discussing the UK tax characterisation of overseas entities, and of Delaware (and other US) limited liability companies (LLCs) in particular (in INTM180000 and INTM180050).
This part of the International Manual sets out HMRC’s views on whether certain foreign…
BlueCrest – the Upper Tribunal considers the salaried member rules
The Upper Tribunal (UT) has upheld the decision of the First‑tier Tribunal (FTT) regarding the application of the UK’s salaried member rules (the Rules) to certain members of BlueCrest Capital Management (UK) LLP (BlueCrest), an asset manager engaged in the provision of hedge fund management services. We previously reported on…
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…
Massive U-Turn on Mini Budget
As has been widely reported, a number of the Mini Budget proposals (summarised in our recent Tax Blog) have been scrapped. The new Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt announced these measures claiming that they are estimated to raise £32 billion in taxes every year. More tax rises and…
UK Mini Budget 2022
UK Mini Budget 2022
The Chancellor today unveiled the UK’s 2022 Growth Plan which has been described as being “the biggest package of tax cuts in generations”. We have summarised here the tax changes that we think will be of interest to our client base.
- UK corporation tax: the main
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HMRC Announces Welcome Changes to the QAHC Regime
By Stephen Pevsner & Philip Gilliland on
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…
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 summary, the FTT found that certain of BlueCrest’s members who were responsible for managing significant investment portfolios had ‘significant influence’ over the affairs of the LLP, irrespective of whether that influence on a financial level amounted to managerial influence over the whole of the LLP’s affairs, such that those members were not salaried members (but that other members who were not engaged in portfolio management did not have significant influence for these purposes, as explained below).
The decision in respect of the significant influence condition for portfolio managers will be welcomed by asset management LLPs. However, it is generally expected that HMRC will appeal the decision, particularly given that it appears to be at odds with HMRC’s approach, as set out in the HMRC Partnership Manual, that only members involved in the top level management of an LLP should treated as having significant influence over its affairs.
HMRC Clarifies Application of QAHC Regime to Corporate Lending Vehicles
By Robert E. Gaut, Stephen Pevsner & David M. Ward on
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…
Court of Appeal overturns High Court and holds that tax claim notice was valid
By Stephen Pevsner & Katerina Heal on
This was an appeal against the High Court decision in Dodika Ltd & Ors v United Luck Group Holdings Limited from August 2020 (see our Tax Blog on this). The case concerns the question of whether the notice given by the buyer to the sellers under a sale and purchase…