Other cases that caught our eye 3 March 2023

Whether negligent tax advice time-barred: S Etroy and another v Speechly Bircham LLP [2023] EWHC 386 (Ch) (23 February 2023) is not a tax case as such but will be of interest to many private client advisers. The context is advice relating to the transfer of assets from an existing trust into a new discretionary settlement. The intention was to take the assets outside the UK inheritance tax net (taking advantage of the non-domiciled status of the settlor) but the advisers overlooked the fact that there were UK situs assets in the trust and that their transfer would trigger IHT charges. The advisers accepted that they had been in breach of their duty to the client in not advising on the IHT consequences but argued that the claim against them was time barred. The issue at trial was therefore the date at which the taxpayer acquired the knowledge required...