In a significant change to UK company law, the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 (ECCTA) imposes new requirements for certain individuals to have their identity verified. These requirements aim to deter those who wish to use companies for illegal purposes by making it much harder to register fictitious directors or beneficial owners. Together […]

On the 26th of November, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves, unveiled the 2025 Autumn Budget, setting out a programme focused on stability, investment, and long-term economic growth. Below is a summary of the key announcements. Rachel Reeves’ Budget centred on rebuilding the UK economy while adhering to “iron-clad fiscal rules”, with an emphasis […]

IntroductionIn Boulting v Revenue and Customs Commissioners [2025] UKFTT 1272 (TC), the First-tier Tribunal considered whether proceeds from a company’s purchase of its own shares should be treated as an income distribution or as a capital disposal subject to capital gains tax. The decision provides helpful clarification on how the “benefit of the trade” test […]

In T Masters v HMRC [2025] UKFTT 967 (TC) (11 August), the First-tier Tribunal concluded that pension withdrawals taken from a self-invested personal pension (SIPP) by an individual living in Portugal were outside the scope of UK taxation. The Tribunal decided that the link to Mr Masters’ past employment remained intact despite the transfer of […]

The Court of Appeal has reaffirmed HMRC’s longstanding approach to the place of effective management (POEM) of trusts in the context of pre-2006 “round-the-world” tax avoidance schemes. In Haworth v HMRC [2025] EWCA Civ 845, the Court held that the POEM of a trust that had briefly appointed Mauritian trustees was, in substance, in the […]