Upper Tribunal decision in CRC v Jasper Conran

A taxpayer who received £8.25m from a company that he indirectly controlled and on which he paid no tax has had his position reversed by the Upper Tribunal. This important and interesting decision on the meaning of distribution was handed down by the Upper Tribunal in CRC v Jasper Alexander Thirlby Conran [2023] UKUT 00166 (TCC).

The outcome a victory for HMRC on all grounds achieves what most practitioners must have expected to be the common-sense answer. The orthodox view is restored: where a shareholder sells a capital asset to his own company (or its subsidiary) at an overvalue the excess is taxable on him as an income distribution. Unless of course he can prove that the payment was not in respect of his shares which is it appears not a task for the faint hearted.

Background

In 2007 ...