In Andrew Chappell v HMRC [2016] EWCA Civ 809 HMRC recorded their 10th successive victory on tax avoidance schemes promoted by NT Advisors, bringing the total tax protected to over £900m.
The case was a lead case covering 304 investors and £143m of tax:
- The taxpayer appealed an amendment to his 2005-06 tax return to disallow a deduction of £303,123.
- The deduction related to two payments of manufactured overseas dividends under a stock lending arrangement.
- The stock lending arrangements were part of a marketed tax scheme involving a series of circular payments with no genuine commercial purpose.
The Court of Appeal agreed with the lower courts that no tax relief was due as the only purpose of the payments was to secure a tax deduction.
This win for HMRC brings the total tax protected in respect of this promoter alone to £916m. Previous successes include the Working Wheels scheme, under which users claimed to be self-employed used car traders.
Comment
HMRC are obviously very happy with this outcome.
They also announced last week that they have collected £3 billion from users of tax avoidance schemes in the last two years under Accelerated Payment Notices (APNs).
This combined with the proposed stiff penalties for enablers of tax avoidance make it hard to see how there can be any real future for this kind of mass marketed scheme, or their promoters.
Links
Case reference: Andrew Chappell v HMRC [2016] EWCA Civ 809
