The government has announced plans to restrict the use of the compensating adjustments mechanism in the transfer pricing legislation where it generates income tax advantages.
HMRC are aware of two major schemes that exploit the rules. The first arrangement involves large partnerships that employ staff through a separate service company, which the partnership owns.
A director wishes to borrow £50,000 from one of his limited companies for his personal expenditure. To delay his repayment of the loan, he plans to repay this with a loan from another company with an overlapping year-end
The Revenue has moved to clarify its approach to tackling stamp duty land tax (SDLT) dodging.
The department’s action follows a meeting between the British Property Federation, the Chartered Institute of Taxation, the Law Society, the Stamp Taxes Practitioners’ Group and HMRC Stamp Taxes, to discuss SDLT group relief and the application of the targeted anti-avoidance rule in FA 2003, Sch 7 para 2(4A), in the context of intra-group asset transfers following corporate acquisitions.
The UK government has received notification from the European Commission (EC) that it is to open a formal investigation relating to exemptions and reliefs within the aggregates levy.
The commission made it clear that some exemptions and reliefs do not contain state aid and the aggregates levy in itself does not constitute an unlawful state aid. The investigation has arisen as a result of a submission in 2002 from the British Aggregates Association (BAA) to the EC, arguing that the levy contained state aid.
A trading company is owned 50:50 by a father and his son. Some years ago, the father loaned £200,000 to the company, but it cannot afford to repay this. The father would accept £30,000 in full settlement of the loan and for the balance to be written off, but will the loan relationship rules apply?
Blenheims Estate and Asset Management Ltd (TC2696)
Time for greater transparency by multinationals over their use of tax havens
HMRC have published three consultation documents concerning the direct tax aspects of the UK investment management strategy:
Vocalspruce Ltd v CRC, Upper Tribunal (Tax and Chancery Chamber)
HMRC have published a guide to creative industry tax reliefs, which allow qualifying companies to claim a larger deduction a payable tax credit when calculating their profits for corporation tax, by increasing the amount of allowable expenditure.
A company that makes a loss may be able to surrender the loss and convert some or all of it into a payable tax credit.
International corporation tax was the subject of the 2013 Wyman symposium
P & J McCann (Toomebridge) Ltd (TC2619)