Court of Appeal’s decision in Bostan Khan

It was with great optimism on 20 April this year that my client Bostan Khan and I joined the remote Court of Appeal hearing regarding the personal tax impact on Mr Khan of his acquisition of Computer Aided Designers Ltd (CAD) from the three former shareholders.

It was also a familiar feeling in some ways. Mr Khan had first approached my former firm for specialist advice on HMRC’s investigation into the transaction. Having sat with Mr Khan during the First-tier Tribunal and Upper Tribunal hearings and having received decisions in respect of both it was with no less frustration that we received the final judgment from Lady Justice Andrews on 30 April. The decision was that by acquiring the company Mr Khan had incurred a tax charge at dividend rates on £1.95m for a company which after the transaction was worth around only £100...