swarb.co.uk - law index
These cases are from the lawindexpro database. They are now being transferred to the swarb.co.uk website in a better form. As a case is published there, an entry here will link to it. The swarb.co.uk site includes many later cases.
Taxes Management - From: 2001 To: 2001
This page lists 17 cases, and was prepared on 02 April 2018.
Roger Stone (HM Inspector of Taxes) v Richard Henry Hitch; Thomas Henry Hitch and Ian Geoffrey Handy Times, 21 February 2001; Gazette, 01 March 2001; [2001] EWCA Civ 1224
26 Jan 2001
CA
Arden LJ
Capital Gains Tax, Taxes Management
The essence of whether a deed was a sham, was whether the deed proclaimed one set of intentions, but the parties acted out another. The deeds in this case were capable of being seen as a sham as respects one or more deeds in the combination of documents. The law did not require that every party to every deed forming part of the transaction trail should be a sham, but there must be a common intention that a deed should not take effect according to its tenor.
1 Cites
1 Citers
[ Bailii ]
Stone (HM Inspector of Taxes) v Hitch and others [2001] EWCA Civ 63; [2001] STC 214
26 Jan 2001
CA
Taxes Management
As an exception to the general rule, it is not invariably necessary to show, in relation to multi party transactions, that every party to it knew it was a sham.
Arden LJ said: "Third, the fact that the act or document is uncommercial, or even artificial, does not mean that it is a sham. A distinction is to be drawn between the situation where parties make an agreement which is unfavourable to one of them, or artificial, and a situation where they intend some other arrangement to bind them. In the former situation, they intend the agreement to take effect according to its tenor. In the latter situation, the agreement is not to bind their relationship."
1 Cites
1 Citers
[ Bailii ]
Padmore v Inland Revenue Commissioners (No 2) Gazette, 08 February 2001; Times, 21 February 2001
8 Feb 2001
ChD
Taxes Management
The taxpayer sought double taxation relief in respect of partnership profits earned in Jersey. Two sections appeared to be in direct contradiction. The earlier section had been superceded by the 1988 Act which was a consolidating Act. Consolidating legislation was intended to be read without reference to earlier legislation wherever possible save only in the case of ambiguity or obscure or absurd. The general rule in favour of double taxation agreements was here subordinated to a rule in 62.
Corporation Taxes Act 1970 - Income and Corporation Taxes Act 1988
British Sky Broadcasting Group Plc v Commissioners of Customs and Excise [2001] EWHC Admin 127
23 Feb 2001
Admn
Taxes Management
The Commissioners are under a common law duty to treat taxpayers fairly, and not to discriminate without justification between taxpayers.
1 Citers
[ Bailii ]
Regina v A Special Commissioner ex parte Morgan Grenfell and Co Ltd; Regina v Martyn Rounding (HM Inspector of Taxes) ex parte Morgan Grenfell and Co Ltd; CA 2-Mar-2001 - Gazette, 03 May 2001; Times, 17 April 2001; [2001] EWCA Civ 329
Inland Revenue Commissioners v Laird Group Plc Times, 13 March 2001; Gazette, 20 April 2001
13 Mar 2001
ChD
Taxes Management, Corporation Tax
It was difficult to reconcile different decisions of the higher courts. Nevertheless, the declaration and payment of a dividend which did not involve any transaction in securities, or alteration of rights attaching to securities, was not itself a dealing in securities. The arrangement involved the declaration of abnormally large dividends in purchasing another company so as to create franked income which it could then set off against its own liability to tax at tax rates applicable to its group. If a payment operated to extinguish a security, it might become such a transaction, but in this case it had not.
Income and Corporation Taxes Act 1988 706
Inland Revenue Commissioners v Amerada Hess Ltd Times, 20 March 2001
20 Mar 2001
ChD
Taxes Management
An oil exploration company was able to set off against the charge to Petroleum Revenue Tax on its profits from the exploitation of an oilfield, the cost of abortive explorations outside the field but less than five kilometers away. The transitional provisions following the abandonment of the tax on new oilfields did not affect this issue.
Oil Taxation Act 1975
Customs and Excise Commissioners v A and D Goddard (A Firm) Gazette, 17 May 2001
17 May 2001
ChD
VAT, Taxes Management
The taxpayer had re-claimed input VAT on mobile phones, but no output tax was due because they were to be sold outside the UK. The commissioners alleged fraud and refused the refund. On appeal the commissioners at first withdrew the allegation of fraud, and sought to add other grounds. They were allowed a time within which to file new pleadings. In the absence of such filing, the appeal was allowed, despite a request to re-instate the allegations of fraud. The Commissioners in turn appealed. They filed. Arguments they sought to enter had not been raised earlier. The Commissioners had still disclosed no arguable or sustainable case, and it would be wrong for an appeal court to substitute its own discretion for that of the tribunal, merely in order to preserve a substantial sum for the public revenue..
DTE Financial Services Ltd v Wilson (Inspector of Taxes); CA 24-May-2001 - Times, 03 May 2001; Gazette, 24 May 2001; [2001] EWCA Civ 455
James Murray King v Annie Marie Walden (HM Inspector of Taxes) Times, 12 June 2001; [2001] EWHC Ch 419; [2001] STC 822
12 Jun 2001
ChD
Taxes Management, Human Rights
A decision to impose a penalty on a taxpayer, involved a charge of a criminal nature, for the purposes of article 6 of the Convention. It was necessary, therefore, to proceed with such a matter quickly. Even so, in the imposition of such penalties, there was no point upon which the burden of proof did not lay on the Crown, and the taxpayer had had opportunity at each stage to have his say. In this case, the matter had taken some five years. This was only just acceptable, and the Revenue should look at some way of fast tracking appeals in such matters.
European Convention on Human Rights art 6(2)
1 Citers
[ Bailii ]
Ferrazzini v Italy [2001] STC 1314; 44759/98; (2001) 34 EHRR 1068; [2001] ECHR 464
12 Jul 2001
ECHR
Wildhaber J P
Human Rights, Taxes Management
(Grand Chamber) The court had to decide whether tax proceedings brought by the state against an individual involved the determination of a civil right within the meaning of article 6(1). It was argued by the Government that the existence of an individual's tax obligation to pay tax belonged exclusively to the realm of public law and its determination did not involve a determination of a civil right. The court said: "Pecuniary interests are clearly at stake in tax proceedings, but merely showing that a dispute is "pecuniary" in nature is not in itself sufficient to attract the applicability of Article 6(1) under its "civil" head. In particular, according to the traditional case law of the Conventional institutions, there may exist 'pecuniary' obligations vis-a-vis the State or its subordinate authorities which, for the purpose of Article 6(1), are to be considered as belonging exclusively to the realm of public law and are accordingly not covered by the notion of 'civil rights and obligations'. Apart from fines imposed by way of 'criminal sanction', this will be the case, in particular, where an obligation which is pecuniary in nature derives from tax legislation or is otherwise part of normal civic duties in a democratic society.
The Convention is, however, a living instrument to be interpreted in the light of present-day conditions, and it is incumbent on the Court to review whether, in the light of changed attitudes in society as to the legal protection that falls to be accorded to individuals in their relations with the State, the scope of Article 6(1) should not be extended to cover disputes between citizens and public authorities as to the lawfulness under domestic law of the tax authorities' decisions.
Relations between the individual and the State have clearly developed in many spheres during the 50 years which have elapsed since the Convention was adopted, with State regulation increasingly intervening in private-law regulations. This has led the Court to find that procedures defined under national law as being part of "public law" could come within the purview of Article 6 under its "civil" head if the outcome was decisive for private rights and obligations, in regard to such matters as, to give some examples, the sale of land, the running of a private clinic, property interests, the granting of administrative authorisations relating to the conditions of professional practice or of a licence to serve alcoholic beverages. Moreover, the State's increasing intervention in the individual's day-to-day life, in terms of welfare protection, for example, has required the Court to evaluate features of public law and private law before concluding that the asserted right could be classified as "civil".
However, rights and obligations existing for an individual are not necessarily civil in nature. Thus, political rights and obligations, such as the right to stand for election to the National Assembly, even though in those proceedings the applicant's pecuniary interests were at stake, are not civil in nature, with the consequence that Article 6(1) does not apply. Neither does that provision apply to disputes between administrative authorities and those of their employees who occupy posts involving participation in the exercise of powers conferred by public law. Similarly, the expulsion of aliens does not give rise to disputes over civil rights for the purposes of Article 6(1) of the Convention, which accordingly does not apply.
In the tax field, developments which might have occurred in democratic societies do not, however, affect the fundamental nature of the obligation on individuals or companies to pay tax. In comparison with the position when the Convention was adopted, those developments have not entailed a further intervention by the State into the 'civil' sphere of the individual's life. The Court considers that tax matters still form part of the hard core of public-authority prerogatives, with the public nature of the relationship between the taxpayer and the tax authority remaining predominant . ."
European Convention on Human Rights 6
1 Citers
[ Bailii ] - [ Bailii ]
Commissioners of Inland Revenue v The Crown Court at Kingston, Robin Wayne John Interested Party [2001] EWHC Admin 581
24 Jul 2001
QBD
Lord Justice Kennedy, Mr Justice Stanley Burton
Corporation Tax, Taxes Management, Crime
The Crown Court dismissed charges again the interested party alleging conspiracy to defraud the claimants. Tax-saving crosses the border from lawful to criminal when it involves the deliberate and dishonest making of false statements to the Revenue. The Revenue contended that he had created documents to do that precise thing. Companies with cash assets but liability for Corporation tax were purchased. They were lent substantial sums for the purposes of investment, and the interest charges had the effect of allowing reclaims of Corporation tax. They were then to move offshore. The Inland Revenue contended that the loan arrangements were a sham, and that documents had been falsely dated. The defendant was a tax adviser to the scheme. Held: None of the documentary evidence constituted an admission by the Defendant, nor informed him of any fraudulent activity. It could not be said that the judge's decision was perverse.
Criminal Justice Act 1987
[ Bailii ]
Perks and Others v Clark and Others; CA 27-Jul-2001 - Gazette, 31 August 2001; Times, 02 October 2001
Regina v Frank Adam Moran (Attorney General's Reference No 25 of 2001) Times, 08 August 2001; Gazette, 27 September 2001; [2001] EWCA Crim 1770; [2002] 1 WLR 253
27 Jul 2001
CACD
Mantell LJ, Rougier LJ, Grigson J
Taxes Management, Criminal Sentencing
The defendant pleaded guilty to making false statements, and cheating the public revenue by understating his profits as a market trader over a protracted period. The judge made a confiscation order equal to the amount of undeclared profit. On appeal, that element was set aside. The section referred to the pecuniary advantage obtained by the cheating. The undeclared profit was not earned as a result of the cheating, but in the normal course of trade. The pecuniary advantage was the amount of underpayment of tax, with interest accrued or investment return on that sum. Neither could the later section be used to treat properly earned sums as a pecuniary advantage.
Criminal Justice Act 1988 71(5) 102(5)
1 Cites
1 Citers
Regina v Allen; HL 11-Oct-2001 - [2001] UKHL 45; [2002] 1 AC 509; [2002] HRLR 4; [2001] 4 All ER 768; [2001] STC 1537; 4 ITL Rep 140; [2002] 1 Cr App Rep 18; [2001] BTC 421; [2001] STI 134; [2001] UKHL TC_74_263
Regina v Dimsey [2001] UKHL 46
11 Oct 2001
HL
Lord Bingham of Cornhill Lord Nicholls of Birkenhead Lord Steyn Lord Hutton Lord Scott of Foscote
Taxes Management, Income Tax, Corporation Tax, Human Rights
The defendant provided financial services, including the provision of offshore companies for a co-defendant. They were used to secrete assets abroad. Misleading information was provided to the revenue by the applicant and others. They were charged with conspiracy. Only one charge remained effective, but it was argued that since, under s 739(2) that income was deemed, in any event, to be that of one of the defendants, but the case had been presented on the basis that it was the income of the companies which had been hidden. If the presumption against double taxation applied, it was not also the income of the company, and the prosecution failed. The Act contained separate definitions of Income Tax Acts and Corporation Tax Acts, and it was counter-argued that deeming provisions for the one, did not exclude the other. No such distinction could apply in this section. The double taxation possibility remained theoretical. The revenue was left with a choice as to how the income might be treated and taxed. That was argued to be a breach of the human right to enjoy one's goods free of interference from the State. That discretion was held to be within the State's margin of appreciation. The companies were liable to corporation tax, and the conviction stood.
Finance Act 1936 36 - Income and Corporation Taxes Act 1988 739 746
1 Cites
[ House of Lords ] - [ Bailii ]
Slater Ltd and Others v Beacontree General Commissioners and Another Times, 18 December 2001; Gazette, 06 February 2002
6 Dec 2001
ChD
Justice Lightman
Taxes Management, Company, Corporation Tax
When the general commissioners were investigating an appeal against the imposition of penalties, it was open to them to ask the company to present more detailed accounts than would be provided under the rules which allowed smaller companies to file short accounts. It was not enough to offer access to the companies books. The commissioners were entitled to require a profit and loss account in one of the four statutory formats. The defaults in this case were deliberate, and inexcusable, and the penalties should be sufficiently substantial to mean something. The penalties here were modest and the companies could make no legitimate complaint of them.
Companies Act 1985 248 - General Commissioners (Jurisdiction and Procedure) Regulations 1994 (1994 No 1812) 10(3)
