<p>Filter Knowledge</p>

BlueCrest – all about salaried members – our briefing is here.

The Upper Tribunal (UT) has firmly upheld the decision of the First-tier Tribunal (FTT) in the salaried members rules case of HMRC v Bluecrest Capital Management (UK) LLP, rejecting HMRC's call for a narrow interpretation of the "significant influence" exclusion.

In the recent case of Bhaur and others v Equity First Trustees (Nevis) Ltd and others [2023]  EWCA Civ 534, the Court of Appeal (CoA) had to consider whether to allow taxpayers to undo, on the grounds of mistake, a voluntary disposition of their assets entered into as part of a tax avoidance scheme.

In the recent case of Jonathan Hitchins and others v HMRC [2023] FTT 127 (TC), the First-Tier Tribunal (FTT) had to consider whether to require HMRC to close a long running enquiry.

In the recent case of Norton and another v HMRC [2023] UT/2021/000057, the Upper Tribunal had to consider whether a discovery assessment issued before the end of the normal enquiry window was valid.

In the recent case of R & C Commrs v Third Party [2023] TC 08706, the First-Tier Tribunal had to consider whether to approve the issue of a third party information notice to a firm of solicitors requiring it to disclose information relating to one its clients.

In the recent case of Paul Harrison v HMRC [2023] UKUT 38 (TC), the Upper Tribunal had to consider whether it was bound by a Supreme Court obiter dictum (observation not forming part of the grounds of the decision in the relevant case), that a discovery assessment cannot be defeated on grounds of "staleness".

In the recent case of Samuel and Helen Moore (t/a Moore Farms) v HMRC [2022] UKFTT 411 (TC), the First-Tier Tribunal had to consider whether to permit a late appeal against an HMRC decision after a later court judgment in a different case strongly indicated that that HMRC decision had been incorrect.

In the recent case of Newpier Charity Limited v HMRC [2022] UKFTT 373 (TC), the First-tier Tribunal (FTT) had to decide whether it was obliged to agree to the application by a charity, Newpier Charity Limited (Newpier), for it (the FTT) to require HMRC to close an enquiry into Newpier's tax return.

Since our previous briefing there have been a number of developments in the area of tax investigations and disputes. This briefing summarises some key ones and what they mean for taxpayers.

Travers Smith Tax Senior Associate Sophie Lloyd and Associate Rob Smith have written an article in a recent edition of Tax Journal, providing a practical guide on early stage tax disputes with HMRC.

Welcome to our interactive guide to the lifecycle of the early stages of a tax dispute.

Since our previous briefing there have been a number of developments in the area of tax investigations and disputes. This briefing summarises some key ones and what they mean for taxpayers.

Tax Senior Associate Sophie Lloyd and Knowledge Counsel Ian Zeider have written an article in a recent edition of Tax Journal, discussing what the Supreme Court's judgment in HMRC v Tooth means for protective assessments. 

Tax Partner Elena Rowlands and Knowledge Counsel Ian Zeider have written an article in a recent edition of Tax Journal, discussing the Finance Bill 2021 and financial institution notices.

Since our previous briefing there have been a number of developments in the area of tax investigations and disputes. This briefing summarises some key ones and what they mean for taxpayers.

It was a busy and unusual summer for a number of reasons and it may be that a series of developments relating to HMRC powers, investigations and tax disputes were not top of everybody's agenda. We have therefore brought some key ones together in this update.

New legislation in Finance Act 2020 legislates retrospectively for HMRC to use artificial intelligence to carry out its functions. The article below was written for Tax Journal's September issue by Hannah Manning, Sophie Lloyd and Laura Jackson, and considers in particular some areas of potential concern in relation to HMRC's increasing use of automation, such as the raising of discovery assessments, business risk reviews and the assessment of discretionary penalties.

On 21 July 2020 the Government published draft clauses for inclusion in the Finance Bill 2021. These include several measures relating to the rules governing HMRC's ability to obtain information about taxpayers.

HMRC frequently contact taxpayers to ask questions about their tax returns on an informal basis rather than under a statutory enquiry process. As the questions are informal, taxpayers can choose whether to engage with HMRC and it is perhaps this voluntary aspect that sometimes leads them to take a more relaxed approach than they would in a formal enquiry.