The FTT decision in Greene King: law, accounting and tax

Two Greene King cases show just how important it is to get the legal and accounting analysis right in the financial products area as they underpin the tax analysis, and the decisions perhaps illustrate the changing climate in relation to tax mitigation structures. In the first case (in 2000), the taxpayer (the transferor debtor) succeeded in claiming that an intra-group novation of a debtor's payment obligations triggered a loan relationships loss. In the 2012 case, the tax planning involved intra-group funding arrangements which delivered tax deductions for interest payments by the debtor company but, it was claimed, no corresponding taxable receipts. The Tribunal did not just deny the tax benefit of the planning; rather as a result of the judgment the group faces tax on £20m in the absence of any economic profit.