A company incorporated in England carried on from there an hotel business in Egypt until 1906. In that year they altered their Articles of Association by resolutions which provided that the Egyptian business of the company should be carried on and managed by a local board in Egypt to the exclusion of any board of directors other than the local board. The Commissioners had found that the head and seat and controlling power of the company remained in England with the board of directors of the company.
Held: Lord Parker and Lord Sumner found that the trade or business of the company was carried on wholly outside the United Kingdom while Lord Parmoor, whose view was shared by Earl Loreburn, was that the Commissioners of Inland Revenue were entitled to find that the business was not exclusively carried on outside the United Kingdom when all the general financial arrangements were dealt with and controlled at meeting held from time to time at the offices of the company in England. Lord Parker said that ‘a trade or business cannot be said to be wholly carried on abroad if it be under the control and management of persons resident in the United Kingdom, although such persons act wholly through agents and messengers resident abroad. Where the brain which controls the operations from which the profits and gains arise is in this country, the trade or busines is, at any rate partly, carried on in this country.’
Judges:
Earl Loreburn, Lord Parker, Lord Sumner
Citations:
[1915] UKHL 2, [1915] AC 1022
Links:
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Income Tax
Updated: 22 May 2022; Ref: scu.265980
