On 21 December 2009 the Department of Communities and Local Government (DCLG) published two new consultations as part of the government’s response to the Killian Pretty Review.
The world of tax is quite interesting at the moment – to me, at least – because it brings into sharp focus the way that tax is used as an instrument of policy and what role it is playing in the field of social policy. It is hardly news that the state of public finances …
We have gone through turbulent times. To say that the world has changed in the past year and a half would be an understatement. Revered institutions have fallen like houses of cards and once untouchable reputations have been severely damaged by economic upheaval. Although there are some indications that life as we knew it has …
Supershield Ltd v Siemens Building Technologies FE Ltd [2010] takes us back to the nuts and bolts of contract law – to the question of remoteness of damage. A type of loss resulting from a breach of contract cannot be recovered if it is too remote. The law in this area has become unsettled in …
Continue reading “Remoteness of damage: Supershield brings commercial background to the fore”
The year-end audit process can bring headaches for in-house lawyers. With the financial year for most companies ending on 31 December, the first few months of the New Year bring the deepest scrutiny by external auditors of a company’s transactions and dealings, in addition to year-end procedures being run by internal audit. This increased scrutiny …
Continue reading “Will it be a Happy New Year for your company?”
A consultation document, ‘Disclosure of Tax Avoidance Schemes’ (the consultation document), has beenpublished in respect of proposed changes to the disclosure of tax avoidance schemes (DOTAS) regime, which are largely aimed at improving compliance and widening the scope of the types of transactions that are disclosable. It is clear that HMRC consider this legislation to …
Continue reading “HMRC sharpens its tools to combat avoidance”
On Friday 27 November 2009 the new European Commission, which will begin its mandate early in 2010, was announced by Commission President José Barroso. This announcement followed a week after the appointment of Herman Van Rompuy and Catherine Ashton as the President of the European Council and the High Representative of the Union for Foreign …
In this month’s corporate tax article, we have considered some of the proposed international tax measures introduced inthe Pre-Budget Report (PBR 2009). The headline-grabbing measures of the PBR 2009, such as the bank bonus tax or the increases in national insurance contributions, have already received considerable media attention and commentary, and therefore this article does …
Continue reading “Pre-Budget Report 2009: international tax matters”
The European Ombudsman, Nikiforos Diamandouros, has published a decision upholding a complaint against the European Commission by Intel Corporation (Intel). The complaint relates to the Commission’s handling of its investigation into Intel’s business activities and, in particular, its record of a meeting with a senior executive from Dell Inc (Dell), one of Intel’s biggest customers. …
The Companies (Cross-Border Mergers) Regulations 2007 (the Regulations) came into force in December 2007 and implements Directive 2005/56/EC of the European Parliament and Council on cross-border mergers of limited liability companies. The Regulations provide for the merging of any two public or private limited liability companies resident in the EU (providing such a merger is …