Landid Property and others v HMRC

In Landid Property and others v HMRC [2017] UKFTT 692 (13 September 2017) the FTT found that payments to employee benefit trusts (EBTs) were earnings.

The appellants had established EBTs with sub-funds for each employee to which they contributed funds. The sub-funds then made interest free loans to the employees. The issue was whether the amounts contributed to the sub-funds were earnings subject to NICs and PAYE.

The FTT referred extensively to the recent Supreme Court decision in Rangers [2017] UKSC 45. It found that the requirement for the employer to make a payment to charity and the terms of the EBTs (which provided that employees did not have a vested interest in the funds) did not amount to the kind of contingency which would prevent the payments from being earnings. The FTT stated: ‘It was absolutely clear that under the scheme as it...