Centrica Overseas Holdings Ltd v HMRC

In Centrica Overseas Holdings Ltd v HMRC [2021] UKUT 200 (TCC) (18 August 2021) the Upper Tribunal (UT) found that it was not necessary to have formal board decisions at the company level in order to determine that investment activities had been undertaken and expenditure incurred in respect of them. The UT upheld the FTT conclusions that the banking and accounting fees were deductible revenue expenses of management; but it remitted the question on legal fees to the FTT because it did not have the facts available to make that decision.

Centrica Overseas Holdings Ltd (COHL) was an intermediate holding company with a Dutch sub-group (Oxxio) in the group headed by Centrica plc. Centrica decided to sell the Oxxio businesses. Following difficulties in the Oxxio sub-group Oxxio sold one subsidiary and the assets of two further subsidiaries with...