Implications of the Court of Appeal’s decision in Cobalt Data Centre 2 LLP and another

The recent decision of the Court of Appeal in Cobalt Data Centre 2 LLP and Cobalt Data Centre 3 LLP v CRC perhaps does not make for the most engaging read for most tax advisers. However it did provide an interesting conclusion on contracts related to preserving time limited reliefs and the potential for wider counter avoidance impact and so is much more interesting than some may think.

By way of my background in October 2018 I began working for PKF Francis Clark assisting clients with HMRC enquiries and especially any contact from HMRC’s counter-avoidance unit. Before that I had worked within HMRC and Inland Revenue for longer than is perhaps healthy holding a variety of enforcement and compliance roles. My final years within the department were predominantly spent working tax avoidance scheme enquiries in what would eventually become the counter-avoidance directorate.

For my sins...