Anson v HMRC (aka Swift v HMRC)

In Anson v HMRC (aka Swift v HMRC) (CA – 12 February) an individual (S) who was resident in the UK helped to form a Delaware limited liability company (H). The USA authorities charged tax on S’s share of H’s profits treating H as a transparent entity. S claimed double taxation relief for the US tax. HMRC issued discovery assessments for 1997/98 to 1999/2000 and amendments to S’s self-assessments for 2000/01 to 2003/04 on the basis that H should not be treated as transparent and that S was not entitled to double taxation relief. The Upper Tribunal upheld HMRC’s assessments and amendments (see [2011] STC 2126). Mann J held that S was not taxed on ‘the same profits that were taxed in the United States’ H was not transparent and S was not entitled to double taxation relief under the US/UK Treaty....