R (oao Haworth) v HMRC

In R (oao Haworth) v HMRC [2021] UKSC 25 (2 July 2021) the Supreme Court dismissed HMRC’s appeal holding that the follower notice issued to the taxpayer was invalid.

The taxpayer entered into arrangements aimed at taking advantage of the combination of TCGA 1992 ss 77 and 86 and the application of the double tax treaty with Mauritius to avoid any charge to CGT on shares disposed of by a trust in which he held an interest. Following the decision in Smallwood v HMRC [2010] EWCA Civ 778 HMRC issued the taxpayer with a follower notice. The decision to issue the notice was made by HMRC’s Workflow Governance Group on the basis that the taxpayer’s arrangements satisfied seven indicators derived from the Court of Appeal judgment in Smallwood. HMRC accepted before the Supreme Court that the group had concluded that it...