Supplying the answer: when are statefunded services “supply of services for consideration” for VAT purposes? – Monckton Chambers

Posted January 22nd, 2021 in chambers articles, education, HM Revenue & Customs, news, VAT by sally

‘In this case note, Jack Williams of Monckton Chambers analyses the recent decision of the Upper Tribunal in Colchester Institute Corporation v HMRC [2020] UKUT 0368 (“Colchester”). In summary, in overturning the First Tier Tribunal’s decision, the Upper Tribunal held that state-funding did have a sufficient link to the provision of education and vocational training provided by a college to constitute supply of services for consideration and economic activity. Nevertheless, HMRC was entitled to set-off input tax to reduce the taxpayer’s repayment claim. The implications of the case are likely to be profound: many businesses – educational and otherwise – supplying services that are funded by state agencies are now likely to argue that their provision of services does, in fact, constitute the supply of services for consideration and economic activity. That being so, there would be no need to account for output tax on those services and any accounted for with HMRC may be recoverable.’

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Monckton Chambers, January 2021

Source: www.monckton.com

Time to act: the UK Trust Register and the Fifth Money Laundering Directive – Wilberforce Chambers

Posted January 22nd, 2021 in chambers articles, EC law, HM Revenue & Customs, news, trusts by sally

‘HMRC’s registration requirements for trusts may not have been the focus of many practitioners’ attention during 2020, but the 31 January deadline for Trusts Registration Service notifications is likely to focus minds not just on annual compliance requirements, but also on the myriad of changes that have taken place over the past year.’

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Wilberforce Chambers, 19th January 2021

Source: www.wilberforce.co.uk

Ashbolt v HMRC [2020] STC 1813 – CrimeCast.Law

Posted December 3rd, 2020 in HM Revenue & Customs, income tax, loans, news, podcasts, search & seizure, tax avoidance by tracey

‘The case arose from the response of certain taxpayers and their professional advisers to the Treasury’s introduction of the so called ‘loan charge’ under the Finance Act (No 2) 2017, which was intended to enable HM Revenue and Customs to put an end to what had become a widespread practice of avoiding income tax by characterising payments as loans rather than income. HMRC commenced a criminal investigation into the conduct of a number of subscribers to a particular tax avoidance scheme and, in the course of that investigation, they obtained and executed search warrants relating to both residential and business premises. The question arose whether the first set of access conditions in paragraph 2 to Scheduled 1 of PACE, and whether the further condition in paragraph 14(d) of that schedule had been satisfied. It prompted the Divisional Court to issue a stern warning about the need for scrupulous care in presenting such an application and the court also gave guidance on how, in practical terms, the judge to whom the application is made should be assisted in focusing on the key issues which he or she needs to resolve …’

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CrimeCast.Law, 30th November 2020

Source: crimecast.law

Leicester garment factory bosses banned from running businesses for more than 400 years – The Guardian

Posted September 4th, 2020 in company directors, fraud, HM Revenue & Customs, insolvency, news, taxation by sally

‘Directors of clothing manufacturers in Leicester have been struck off for a combined total of more than 400 years in cases costing HMRC millions, data shared with the Guardian reveals.’

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The Guardian, 3rd September 2020

Source: www.theguardian.com

MPs urge action on lawyers who facilitate “aggressive tax avoidance” – Legal Futures

‘The lawyers and others who devise and market ineffective tax avoidance schemes are often breaking the law and a few legislative tweaks will make it easier to prosecute them, MPs have claimed.’

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Legal Futures, 11th August 2020

Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk

Revenue and Customs v Professional Game Match Officials Ltd – Old Square Chambers

‘The Upper Tribunal (Tax and Chancery Chamber) recently held in Revenue and Customs v Professional Game Match Officials Ltd that part-time football referees are independent contractors (rather than employees, whose match fees and other payments are subject to PAYE).’

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Old Square Chambers, 1st June 2020

Source: www.oldsquare.co.uk

Covid 19 Employment Law Series: Furloughing ‘at risk’ employees – Parklane Plowden

‘Can “shielding employees” (those who are extremely vulnerable to a Covid 19 infection) be furloughed; and what of that wider group, including pregnant women and those over 70, thought to be more at risk than the population at large, many of whom have been sent home by their employers on health and safety grounds?’

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Parklane Plowden, 23rd April 2020

Source: www.parklaneplowden.co.uk

The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme – An Overview – Doughty Street Chambers

‘On 20th March 2020, HMRC announced that it would set up the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme. The purpose of the scheme is to prevent mass redundancies and unemployment in the wake of the global coronavirus pandemic. On 26th March 2020, HMRC published further guidance on the scheme. The guidance was then updated on 4th April 2020 and again on 9th April 2020.’

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Doughty Street Chambers, 14th April 2020

Source: insights.doughtystreet.co.uk

COVID-19, the self-employed and the Bar – a wobbly scheme? – Doughty Street Chambers

‘The Government approved a package of measures targeting the self-employed in response to the Covid-19 crisis. But are these measures sufficient and will they adequately safeguard members of the self-employed Bar, lower paid employees and workers in the gig economy and see sets of Chambers through the crisis? Doughty Street’s employment law team is available to advise on any employment issues that may arise in relation to employment status, sham self-employment agreements and the government’s financial assistance packages in the wake of Covid-19.’

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Doughty Street Chambers, 10th April 2020

Source: insights.doughtystreet.co.uk

Arron Banks fails in effort to use human rights laws to avoid £162,000 tax bill – The Guardian

‘Arron Banks, the businessman and Ukip party donor, has failed in his attempt to use human rights laws to dismiss a £162,000 tax bill.’

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The Guardian, 2nd April 2020

Source: www.theguardian.com

CA: Litigants do not owe duty of care to opponents – Litigation Futures

‘Litigants do not owe a duty of care to their opponents, the Court of Appeal has made clear.’

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Litigation Futures, 18th December 2019

Source: www.litigationfutures.com

Jailed solicitor must repay £3m or face more prison time – Legal Futures

‘A jailed solicitor involved in the UK’s biggest ever tax fraud must repay £3m of his ill-gotten gains or face a further nine years in prison, a judge at the Old Bailey has ruled.’

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Legal Futures, 18th December 2019

Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk

“Reasonable” for LiP not to understand obligations – Litigation Futures

Posted November 27th, 2019 in appeals, costs, HM Revenue & Customs, litigants in person, news, tribunals by sally

‘Litigants in person (LiPs) who “do little to promote their cases until they are absolutely forced to” and do not “understand, let alone research” their obligations can still be regarded as acting reasonably, the First-tier Tribunal (FTT) has ruled.’

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Litigation Futures, 27th November 2019

Source: www.litigationfutures.com

Follower notices invalid, says Court of Appeal – OUT-LAW.com

‘The Court of Appeal in England has quashed follower notices issued to a participant in a film partnership on the basis that tax authority HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) could not have been of the opinion that the judicial ruling they were based on was relevant to the taxpayer’s case.’

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OUT-LAW.com, 14th November 2019

Source: www.pinsentmasons.com

Bart Casella writes about Unexplained Wealth Orders and changes to applications for Account Freezing Orders – 23 Essex Street

‘Before UWOs came into force on 31 January 2018, I provided seminars to solicitors on the potentially far reaching effects that the orders could have, including on mortgagees and trustees of property held by individuals who qualified for an order or in relation to enforcement by HMRC in respect of inappropriate tax planning. The reality is that the investigating authorities in the UK have thus far concentrated on the ‘low hanging fruit’.’

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23 Essex Street, 4th November 2019

Source: www.23es.com

New Judgment: Routier v Commissioners for Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs [2019] UKSC 43 – UKSC Blog

‘The issue in this appeal was whether a movement of capital between the United Kingdom and Jersey should be regarded as an internal transaction taking place within a single member state for the purposes of article 56 of the Treaty Establishing the European Community; and if not, whether the refusal of relief under section 23 in respect of the gift to the Coulter Trust is justifiable under EU law.’

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UKSC Blog, 16th October 2019

Source: ukscblog.com

Government revokes Brexit regulation after judicial review threat – Law Society’s Gazette

‘The government has pledged to not use Henry VIII powers to make Brexit legislation after a public law charity threatened legal action.’

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Law Society's Gazette, 17th October 2019

Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk

BBC presenters told to pay tens of thousands in back taxes as judge rules against them – Daily Telegraph

Posted September 19th, 2019 in BBC, contract of employment, HM Revenue & Customs, news, self-employment, taxation by tracey

‘Three BBC news presenters have been told to pay hundreds of thousands of pounds in back taxes, despite the High Court finding that the corporation forced them into the wrong contracts.’

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Daily Telegraph, 18th September 2019

Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

HMRC faces legal fight for handing Britons’ data to US tax officials – The Guardian

‘HMRC is facing a legal battle to block it from handing personal details about British citizens to US tax authorities. The case could have wide-ranging implications for tens of thousands of so-called accidental Americans who left the US when they were months or years old but risk having their British bank accounts frozen for failing to comply with the US tax requirements.’

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The Guardian, 12th September 2019

Source: www.theguardian.com

HMRC escapes costs after defending appeal over ‘chaotic’ decision – Law Society’s Gazette

Posted September 10th, 2019 in appeals, costs, HM Revenue & Customs, news, taxation by tracey

‘HM Revenue & Customs will not have to pay the £6,245 costs of a wine wholesaler who successfully appealed a decision notice, a tribunal has ruled.’

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Law Society's Gazette, 9th September 2019

Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk