Tax and the City review for June 2021

Statutory construction: latest ‘Ramsay’ cases

Two recent cases illustrate how the courts are applying the Ramsay principles of statutory construction i.e. looking at the purpose of the legislation and asking whether the relevant statutory provisions construed purposively were intended to apply to the transaction viewed realistically. In both cases the relevant statutory provision happened to be about entitlements. The entitlement in Bostan Khan v HMRC [2021] EWCA Civ 624 was to a distribution on a share buy-back following a share purchase to buy out the vendor shareholders. The entitlement in Hurstwood Properties v Rossendale Borough Council [2021] UKSC 16 was to possession of property under a lease that formed part of a business rates avoidance...