ARCHIVED: This archived Practice Note, which considers the tax measures that were introduced by the government in response to the coronavirus pandemic and other tax measures that were particularly relevant in the circumstances, is not maintained and is for background information only. The government announced a number of measures in response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis either that related specifically to the UK tax regime, or that HMRC administered. HMRC published a business support finder tool to help businesses and self-employed people to determine quickly and easily what financial support was available to them. See: Find coronarvirus support for your business. For ease of use, this Practice Note is split into sections as follows: • EMPLOYMENT • SELF-EMPLOYMENT • TRADING LOSSES • VAT • STAMP TAXES • INTERNATIONAL • TAXES MANAGEMENT AND LITIGATION, and • INCENTIVISED INVESTMENT EMPLOYMENT Coronavirus job retention scheme (CJRS)—CLOSED The coronavirus job retention scheme (CJRS) provided support to employers with a UK payroll in the form of a grant to assist with salary payments to ‘furloughed’ employees during the coronavirus

ARCHIVED: This Practice Note has been archived and is no longer maintained. Following publication of the government’s COVID-19 Response: Living with COVID-19, under which the remaining coronavirus (COVID-19) domestic legal restrictions were removed in England from 24 February 2022, the ICO issued a brief form of guidance on data protection and COVID-19, which replaced the previous, more specific guidance. See: LNB News 28/03/2022 91. This Practice Note considers the position under the ICO’s previous, more detailed, guidance on testing and vaccination, which was deleted from 28 March 2022. It considers the issues that arose in the employment context in relation to Coronavirus (COVID-19) testing and vaccination, and checking COVID status ie the NHS COVID pass showing a person’s vaccination details or test results. For sample policies relating to: • workplace coronavirus testing, see Precedent: Policy—Coronavirus (COVID-19) testing [Archived] • coronavirus vaccination for staff, see Precedent: Policy—Coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccination [Archived] For information on managing the workplace generally from 24 February 2022, see Practice Note: Living with coronavirus (COVID-19) in the workplace

ARCHIVED: The Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic was challenging for employers participating in pension schemes. This archived Practice Note covers the impact of coronavirus on employers participating in pension schemes, including on their automatic enrolment duties and the approach taken by the Pensions Regulator. This Practice Note also describes some government measures introduced to relieve some of the pensions-related pressure on them (eg through the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS), the Corporate Insolvency and Governance Act 2020 and the Kickstart Scheme), as well as the pensions impact of emergency volunteering leave (EVL) and employers’ responsibility to initiate claims on the death of certain keyworkers under the NHS and Social Care Coronavirus Life Assurance Scheme 2020. It is not maintained. The Pensions Regulator’s general approach The Pensions Regulator (TPR) took a proportionate and risk-based approach towards enforcement decisions, with the aim of helping employers to get back on track and supporting both employers and savers. Consistently with this, TPR decided that: • until 30 June 2020, it would not take regulatory action in respect of a defined benefit

ARCHIVED: This archived Practice Note covers the impact of coronavirus on trustees of pension schemes, as well as the position taken by the Pensions Regulator, the Pension Protection Fund, the Pensions Ombudsman and other regulators. This Practice Note also describes the impact of coronavirus on public service pension schemes (including through the Coronavirus Act 2020). The Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic was challenging for trustees running pension schemes. This Practice Note describes the position taken by the different pensions regulatory bodies (including the Pensions Regulator (TPR) and the Pension Protection Fund (PPF)), as well as the various issues encountered by trustees of pension schemes. This Practice Note also describes the impact of coronavirus on public service pension schemes, including effects arising through the Coronavirus Act 2020. TPR’s position TPR repeatedly expressed a willingness to regulate pragmatically and sympathetically when dealing with breaches caused by COVID-19 issues. TPR went as far as to grant certain easements, some of which expired on 30 June 2020 (eg the ability to suspend DB transfer activity, delays in submitting

Corporate analysis: This analysis looks at the 97 secondary equity fundraisings on the Main Market or AIM raising at least £10m which were announced during the three-month period 1 April 2020 to 30 June 2020. It looks at placings, rights issues and open offers and considers the impact the coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis has had on secondary equity offers.

The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic is causing severe difficulties in the operation of the court estate. As of 27 March 2020, HMCTS confirmed that the work of courts and tribunals would be consolidated into fewer buildings, with 157 priority court and tribunal buildings open for essential face-to-face hearings. The Courts and Tribunals Tracker sets out which buildings are open. There are three categories of court: open courts, which are open to the public; staffed courts, where staff and judges continue to work from the buildings but they are not open to the public; and suspended courts, which are temporarily closed. There appears to be no available guidance

Government recommendations on social distancing, self-isolation in the case of sickness, and business closures has resulted in many typical business and social activities being postponed or cancelled altogether by both customers and suppliers. Where a contract is cancelled, any supplies from a VAT perspective will no longer take place, requiring (depending on the terms of the particular contract) a refund of any payments and the cancellation of invoices or credit notes as appropriate. For more information on how a taxable person who has accounted for and paid VAT on a supply, but who is not ultimately paid for that supply, may claim a refund of the whole or part of the VAT they have already accounted for, see Practice Note: VAT bad debt relief. Where payment for an anticipated

As a result of measures to slow down the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19), many countries including the UK are in lockdown. For employees, this often means that travel to and from work has been restricted so that only those who cannot work remotely are allowed to travel to work and then only where travelling to work is absolutely necessary—for instance, key workers like healthcare staff. Consequently, many employees are working remotely, whether from their home or from another country in which they find themselves during a lockdown. Some employers chose to require their employees to work from home even before any lockdown was announced. Employees who are perhaps seconded to other countries badly affected by the virus may already have relocated back to their home or may wish to do so, or may have been requested to do so by their employers. These scenarios may give rise to potential tax issues. Where an employee

Any restrictions on travel imposed by the coronavirus (COVID-19) may impact on corporate tax residency if businesses do not take care to recognise the risks. Under UK domestic law, a foreign corporation will not be UK tax resident unless its central management and control is exercised in the UK. In accordance with case law, a company is centrally managed and controlled in the place where the highest level of control of the company takes place. This may be where its directors (or equivalent) meet and take strategic decisions. For more information on UK corporate tax residency and central management and control, see Practice Note: When a company is UK tax resident. Many foreign incorporated entities with senior UK directors rely on holding physical board meetings outside the UK, with the UK directors travelling, in order to ensure that central management and control does not take place in the UK. But what if the UK directors are unable to travel to

There are a range of issues that could arise for transfer pricing purposes, due to the impact of coronavirus (COVID-19). Intra-group contracts The starting point for a transfer pricing analysis will be the terms and conditions of a legal contract, and therefore clauses in intra-group contracts relating to termination or force majeure could be important in considering whether, and if so how, the coronavirus epidemic will impact arrangements between group entities. Third party contracts in similar circumstances may provide an arm’s length example of how intra-group arrangements may also be renegotiated in this current environment, whether that means changes to payment term durations, the related party fee itself or the need for compensation payments. Allocation of losses Given the broader financial impact that coronavirus has had and will continue to have, one of the key transfer pricing questions will be how this affects profit (or loss) allocation among group entities. The crisis will clearly result in a significant reduction

ARCHIVED: This Practice Note has been archived and is not maintained. It considers the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on probate practice and provides answers or guidance on some of the main issues that arose in the peak periods of the pandemic in 2020 to 2022 for practitioners. Although adapted from some of our Q&As, the latest guidance and updates was contained in this Practice Note. It has not been updated following the relaxation of government restrictions in 2022 and is no longer maintained. For guidance on the impact of coronavirus on other areas relevant to Private Client practitioners, see: Coronavirus (COVID-19) and Private Client—overview. What happens when the family of a deceased person are unable to register the death and make funeral arrangements due to being house-bound? On 17 March 2020, the government published guidance about the emergency coronavirus legislation to tackle the urgent issues that arise as a result of coronavirus. One of the five key areas covered by the Coronavirus Act 2020 (CA 2020) is managing the death of a person with respect and

This Checklist has been archived and is not maintained. It sets out the case management checklist included in the document issued by the President of the Family Division, The Family Court and COVID-19: The Road Ahead, on 6 June 2020 to be applied during the coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis. On 6 June 2020, the President of the Family Division, Sir Andrew Mc Farlane published President of the Family Division—The Family Court and COVID-19: The Road Ahead (9 June 2020), setting out a broad framework for the operation of the Family Court in light of the coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis. The President stated that it had become clear that it now seemed sensible to assume that social distancing restrictions would remain in place for many months and it was unlikely that anything approaching a return to the normal court working environment would be achieved before the end of 2020, or even the spring of 2021. The document identified the basic priorities and ground rules and contains a checklist for case management decision making, see: Checklist. The President noted that the framework set out