Hello
This week brings updates to our Travel guide, advice on the tax implications of companies building on their owners' private property, and a write up on a tribunal involving VAT exempt supply of land.
Following the Dr Samadian v HMRC travel case, in which a self-employed doctor was denied tax relief for travel between his home office and the hospitals that he attended on a regular and predictable basis, we have a seen several cases involving doctors which have different facts. They are not attending anywhere on a regular or predictable basis! These will, if they go to tribunal, have to be decided according to those facts, and the chances are that home-to-hospital travel may be allowable for them. Not exactly an ideal state of affairs if you are in the medical profession and trying to get your tax right, and a really horrible problem for advisers because unless you are on the ball it might be all too easy to just say "Doctor, ah the Samadian case, let's disallow travel" rather than do a detailed fact find and consider all available case law. Our Travel guide hopefully bridges gaps where necessary.
Through our Virtual Tax Partner service recently we have also seen a number of cases in which directors have allowed their companies to build on their private property and not fully understood the full range of tax effects. We have a detailed guide on this available on the site.
On tribunals: we have picked a couple of cases this week, noting a VAT case in which what was thought to be an exempt supply of land turned out to be a mixed standard rated supply. It is quite common now in this age of pop-up shops and festivals for property owners to licence space to micro enterprises, and some care should be taken in planning to ensure that you are creating an exempt supply.
We are as always updating our subscriber guides so follow the links below for summaries and briefings. If you are a subscriber and want to commission a guide for the site, please do. This is FOC, our latest commissioned guide is on the Employer's £2,000 allowance.
Best wishes
Nichola Ross Martin FCA Tax Director
Your online Virtual Tax Partner®: practical support for accountants, tax advisers and their clients
News and freeview
No trade loss relief for horse racing and breeding
In Richard Murray v HMRC TC 03474, the First Tier Tribunal (FTT) disallowed a sideways claim for trade loss relief against general income. The trade was not run on a commercial basis.
VAT: dancers' booths - a supply of land or a composite supply?
A indicator of mixed supplies: a description of the separate elements of the supply being “pointless” on their own for a typical consumer proves a “helpful indicator of inseparability”.
New sanctions to tackle offshore tax evasion
HMRC has published a document that details the progress made in tackling offshore tax evasion, the new actions being taken, and how HMRC intends to exploit data sources better in order to influence behaviour.
Share loss relief: shares issued to nominee
In Neil McLocklin v HMRC (TC 03182), the First-tier Tax Tribunal (FTT) allowed a claim for share loss relief when shares had become of negligible value even though they were acquired by a nominee under some rather unusual conditions.
Badly drafted Sch 36 Notice set aside
In RD Utilities v HMRC [2014] TC03440 a request for a Schedule 36 information notice was set aside by the tribunal because it was so poorly drafted that it was impossible for the parties to know whether it had been complied with.
Subscribers: new guides and updates (paid content)
Travel (self-employed)
UPDATE: for different types of doctors, following the decision in Dr Samadian v HMRC we have examples of cases which are not on all fours with that decision and where it is more likely that home to work travel will be allowed.
Building an office at home or converting part of a home into an office
UPDATE: how to create a tax-efficient home office (and amongst other things avoid unexpected PAYE and NICs).
Annual Investment Allowance (AIA)
UPDATE: take a refresher on the AIA. It is set to increase from 1/6 April 2014 (assuming no changes to the Finance Bill) not all expenditure qualifies for relief and not all businesses my claim it either.
AIA & WDA: rules where there is a change of rate
Capital allowances: the note explains the hybrid rates used when there are change in the rate of writing down allowances (WDA) and the rules where there is a change in the rate of Annual Investment Allowance (AIA).
IHT: Business Property Relief (BPR) (subscriber guide)
NEW: BPR is too good a relief to miss. This guide contains a checklist for advisers, the latest case law together with planning points and links
Losses, trade losses and sideways relief
UPDATE: at a glance guide
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