Nothing new?

IN CONCLUDING HIS judgment in favour of HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) in Jones v Garnett ('Arctic Systems') Mr Justice Park said that he did not think that there was anything particularly novel or alarming in the decision. He described it as 'a simple application of well established principles'. In this article I seek to assess this conclusion in the light of four propositions dealing with the settlements legislation which was at the heart of the case.
Before doing so however it will be helpful if I set out some key agreed facts in the case which in my view are critical to the findings. Whether the decision in Arctic Systems has wide application to other cases may depend on whether the facts in those cases are similar.
The agreed key facts are as follows.

1. It was commercially necessary for Mr and Mrs Jones...