Taxpayers win capital loss case
Massive victory for taxpayer at the special commissioners over £250m of group losses
Two companies challenging the tax-man for £250m of losses have won a massive
victory at the special commissioners that could cost
HM Revenue & Customs
hundreds of millions of pounds.
The companies, Prizedome and Limitgood, based their case on an extremely
detailed interpretation of highly intricate tax rules for capital losses.
Kevin Hindley, corporate tax director at Chiltern, said because of its
complexity the case would now by-pass the High Court and go straight to the
Court of Appeal and was almost certain to end up in the House of Lords.
‘The case revolves around a very technical argument over the definitions of
what a group and a loss is.
‘It is likely that this case will go all the way to the Lords because of the
sums at stake. As it is so technical it is difficult to predict what the final
outcome will be,’ Hindley said.
The planning used by the two companies has since been closed down in
legislation. Prizedome and Limitgood are fighting for approximately £30m in tax
each.