The Ladbroke case and unallowable purpose

Travel Document Service and Ladbroke Group International v HMRC is yet another case about a complex financial transaction, where HMRC prevailed on an ‘unallowable purpose’ argument. The FTT agreed that FA 1996 Sch 9 para 13 (now CTA 2009 s 441) could apply to a deemed loan. In addition to the deemed loan, the transactions resulted in a simple loan between two UK companies, and HMRC also succeeded in disallowing the debits on that loan, even though the credits were fully taxable. This latter point may prove to be the more dangerous finding for those still tempted to implement tax-driven financing schemes.