This week's opinion

Years ago I was involved in a dispute about losses. The Revenue’s argument was strong and had the matter gone to appeal I would almost certainly have lost. The losses were huge but the client needed to use only £10 000 so I agreed with the inspector that the company could keep that amount but forgo the balance. That seemed a pragmatic solution but it was a fudge – either the losses were available or they were not. This sort of splitting the difference has long gone of course and I can see why HMRC closed the door to it. After all my client did end up obtaining relief for losses to which it was not entitled.

These thoughts are prompted by a recent First-tier Tribunal decision  The Serpentine Trust Ltd TC6719. The substance of the case is of specialist interest...