Hoey case lost in the Court of Appeal

[ns1]

https://www.step.org/industry-news/e...neration-loans

I wonder how long it will be before many others find themselves on the receiving end of HMRC's new 'weapon' of disapplying the PAYE regs? I imagine quite a lot of contractor schemes would be vulnerable to this line of attack?

Maybe this forum is about to get busy again...

[Fred Bloggs]

Bankruptcy follows for Hoey?

[eek]

Bankruptcy follows for Hoey?

Quite possibly.

Hands up who is surprised by this verdict?

[DealorNoDeal]

The other cases still in the pipeline (NTRT, WTT) can't have many avenues left to go after this.

The fact that the Court of Appeal has ruled that HMRC's discretion to disapply the PAYE regs (s684) can only be challenged through a JR (not at tribunals) puts a bit of a kibosh on things.

There's further background on s684 here, including HMRC's responses to questions from the CIOT.
https://www.taxadvisermagazine.com/a...nd-higgs-cases

[Fred Bloggs]

Quite possibly.

Hands up who is surprised by this verdict?

(Hands in pockets).

[PeterF]

Quite possibly.

Hands up who is surprised by this verdict?

With 'Justice' Simler involved? Was only ever going to go one way. Onward to the Supreme Court, hopefully.

[GregRickshaw]

Imagine that, a Crown Court favouring a prosecution by the Crown. For those who thought the 'next big thing' (the MSCP cases) were going to be a walk in the park.... here is your reality right here.

[ns1]

Imagine that, a Crown Court favouring a prosecution by the Crown. For those who thought the 'next big thing' (the MSCP cases) were going to be a walk in the park.... here is your reality right here.

And, as you've sadly discovered, someone else losing a court case doesn't just impact them. It invariably hands HMRC a weapon to fire (indiscriminately) at others.

Costelloe → CK & Boox
Hoey → <watch this space>

[dammit chloe]

Yes, won on the basis of what some HMRC secret internal manuals say and 5 to 1 on QCs. Joke of a system. But the judge I think was ex-HMRC and I don't think she has ever found for anyone but HMRc. Again. It's a joke.

Hopefully the appeal will be allowed and some less blinkered judge will find otherwise. Would be a nice counter balance to the RFC case.

One does wonder what some other big groups are actually up to and if they do have some magical analysis to kick down HMRC's doors. Will we ever find out?

[DealorNoDeal]

One does wonder what some other big groups are actually up to and if they do have some magical analysis to kick down HMRC's doors.

I think it would be a first. In the past decade or more, I can't recall a single case involving an avoidance scheme where the users have won.

The 'PAYE argument', advanced by Higgs/Hoey/NTRT, was a valid one but HMRC could never allow this to succeed. So I'm not surprised they put a team of 5 QCs on the case.