An endorsement of the Supreme Court approach
A recent First Tier Tax Tribunal decision has clearly
followed the approach of the Supreme Court in UBS AG and DB Group Services (UK)
Limited v HMRC [2016] UKSC 13.
The facts of the case itself are of no consequence to those
of us with an interest in the share schemes arena. However, the decision in Clavis Liberty 1 LLP
v HMRC [2016] UKFTT 0253 is undoubtedly of interest due to the approach of the
tribunal to the construction of legislative provisions.
In the view of the tribunal, the “authoritative comments” of
the Supreme Court in the UBS case were of general application to the
construction of tax legislation (and were definitely on point in deciding the
case in question).
Clearly the judiciary are “hardening their line” where they perceive tax avoidance to have taken place in the context of statutory interpretation.