New Conference Added update @ 5.1.16

Written by on 08/11/2015 20:43

‘Director and Employee Taxation Post The Court of Session Decision in Murray Group Holdings (Rangers Football Club)’

Law Society’s Hall, London   4th February 2016

2pm to 5.30pm

Speakers

Robert Venables Q.C.

Amanda Hardy Q.C.

Oliver Marre
 

The astounding taxpayer defeat in the Court of Session (the Scottish equivalent of the English Court of Appeal) Advocate General for Scotland v Murray Group Holdings has monumental implications for directors, employees and their employers who are resident in or work or carry on business in any part of the United Kingdom.

It will also affect strategies for legitimate profit extraction from owner-managed businesses, the economic lifeblood of our nation.

The judgment will, if not overturned by the Supreme Court, no doubt give rise to an flurry of (purported) Follower Notices.

If the judgment is correct, much conventional vanilla planning widely engaged in for decades will be completely subverted and a new principle of employee taxation will have been introduced into UK law by judicial action.

The judgment is also important on the tax consequences of beneficiaries of employee and other trusts acting as Protectors or otherwise being given powers under employee benefit trusts and other trusts.

Have English tax advisers, lawyers and judges, as well as HMRC, been consistently wrong in overlooking the obvious?

Has Julian Ghosh Q.C. (Scotland) for HMRC had an insight all the rest of us have missed? Or has he successfully pulled the wool over the eyes of naive Scottish judges? Or does he really believe in his successful submissions?

The decision cannot simply be dismissed as simply the result of yet another absurdity of EU law, combined with petty-mindedness and protectionism, which would have allowed the taxpayer to be represented by an advocate from any other EU state from Portugal to Lithuania but prevented competent and experienced English counsel from arguing the taxpayer’s case, as they had successfully done at the two earlier appeals.

The Judgment of the Court of Session is also very important on the tax dangers of an employee or beneficiary of an employee benefit trust or other trust have an active role under the trust, whether as Protector, Appointor or Trustee.

Other matters relating to employee taxation announced in or in conjunction with the 2015 Autumn Statement will also be covered, in particular the threat of retrospective legislation.

Please see the conference Section of the website for full Programme and booking