Weekly case highlights ― 29 November 2021

Mark Dunsby v HMRC

It is always interesting when taxpayers attempt to use anti-avoidance legislation to their own advantage. This is a good example. The settlements legislation basically says that a person who sets up a structure can still be taxable on the income even if it is paid to somebody else. Here, matters were so arranged that the person who set up the structure was offshore but the person to whom the income was paid was onshore. The aim was that the income would be treated as that of the offshore person who, being non-resident, would not be taxable. The person receiving the income would therefore escape liability.

The First-tier Tribunal went behind the structure and found that the true settlor was the UK individual and that therefore he was taxable on the income from the structure. On appeal, the Upper Tribunal has confirmed that analysis. It went further, however, and said that, even if the settlement provisions were ignored, the UK individual would be taxable on the dividends because he was the person entitled to the dividends, even though, because of the way that the structure had been set up,