Law360, Expert analysis: In March 2024, FTSE Russell, a subsidiary of the London Stock Exchange Group that produces, maintains, licenses and markets stock market indices, published a summary of provisional changes to the Financial Times Stock Exchange (FTSE) Group, or FTSE, UK Index Series ground rules to cater for upcoming changes to the UK listing regime. Written by Dan Hirschovits, partner, Simon Witty, partner, and Vivek Thanki, associate at Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP.

Tax analysis: In Dreyer v HMRC, the First-tier Tax Tribunal (FTT) dismissed the taxpayer’s application for permission to make a late appeal against a VAT civil evasion penalty.

Tax analysis: In Take 3.9 TV Partnership and others v HMRC , the First-Tier Tax Tribunal (FTT) allowed in part the appeals of five film partnerships, holding that the partnerships were trading and that payments made to film production companies were allowable deductions in computing the trade profits so far as they were funded by equity contributions by the partners. To the extent that the payments were funded by bank loans which were repayable by others, they were not allowable.

Tax analysis: In Perenco UK Ltd v HMRC, the First-tier Tax Tribunal (FTT) allowed Perenco’s appeal against HMRC for refusal of first-year capital allowances claimed on oilfield plant and machinery.

Tax analysis: In Candy, the First-tier Tax Tribunal (FTT) decided that paragraph 34 of Schedule 10 to the Finance Act 2003 (FA 2003) provides a remedy when no other relief is available and therefore permitted the taxpayer (C) to claim relief for SDLT paid on a contract that was substantially performed but not completed despite relief under another provision, FA 2003, s 44(9), being out of time since that provision required the relief to be claimed by amending the return.

Tax analysis: In L v HMRC, the First-tier Tax Tribunal (FTT) granted an application by the taxpayer for the hearing of her appeal to be held in private and for the judgment to be published in anonymised form.

Tax analysis: In Dialog Semiconductor Ltd v HMRC, the First-tier Tax Tribunal (FTT) allowed the company’s appeal against a closure notice which charged a termination fee received by the company under the terms of a merger agreement as a chargeable gain.

Tax analysis: In Lifeplus, the First-tier Tax Tribunal (FTT) allowed the taxpayer’s appeal against HMRC’s Schedule 36 information notice which required the production of its US parent company’s consolidated and entity-level financial statements during a transfer pricing enquiry. The FTT found that the requested documents were neither ‘reasonably required’ to check the taxpayer’s tax position, nor within the taxpayer’s ‘possession’ or ‘power’.

Tax analysis: The FTT granted the applications by KPMG and Stewarts Law for disclosure of the skeleton arguments in another case, Osmond and Allen v HMRC (O&A appeal), where the appeal had been heard and the decision had already been submitted to the FTT for release to the parties and was likely to be published very shortly.

Tax analysis: In Cooke, the First-tier Tax Tribunal (FTT) held that the taxpayer was entitled to entrepreneurs’ relief (now business asset disposal relief) on the disposal of his shareholding in a company even though he held less than 5% of the ordinary share capital.

Tax analysis: In Thompson v HMRC, the First-tier Tax Tribunal (FTT) considered a late appeal by an IT consultant against an inaccuracy penalty. Allowing the late appeal, the FTT held that the self-assessment inaccuracies had not been deliberate but the taxpayer had been careless.

Tax analysis: In Winfield, the First-tier Tax Tribunal (FTT) allowed the taxpayer’s appeal against HMRC’s closure notice disallowing his claim for SDLT multiple dwellings relief.