In MJP Media Services Ltd v HMRC ([2011] UKUT 100(TCC)) the Upper Tribunal has confirmed the view of the First-tier Tribunal (FTT) that MJP Media Services Ltd (MJP) was not party to a loan relationship as the inter-company debt did not arise from ‘transactions(s) for the lending of money’.
While at first sight this is surprising on closer reading this is very much a decision which turns on its particular facts.
This was a ‘partial debt waiver’ scheme where intra-group debts were consolidated into a single balance and then the majority of the balance was released.
The aim of the scheme was to get a deduction for a bad debt between connected parties by relying on a specific interpretation of the FA 1996 rules.
However...