HMRC’s crackdown on tax avoidance has created a huge backlog of cases, with 28,521 disputes waiting to be heard by the First Tier Tax Tribunal at the end of 2016/17, according to Clara Boyd, legal director at Pinsent Masons. The number of complex cases launched in the Upper Tax Tribunal also surged last year to 404 from 288 in the previous year. Boyd said: ‘What some commentators see as HMRC’s aggressive litigation strategy can mean rulings take longer to reach—growing the backlog of cases. HMRC will give no ground and frequently will want to win every point.’
26 April 2018
Tax backlog swells
MOVERS & SHAKERS
Switalskis—Naila Arif, Harriet Findlay & Ellie Thompson
Firm awards training contracts to paralegals through internal programme
Ward Hadaway—Matthew Morton
Private client disputes specialist joins commercial litigation team
Thomson Hayton Winkley—Nina Hood
Cumbria firm appoints new head of residential property
NEWS
Freezing orders in divorce proceedings can unexpectedly ensnare third parties and disrupt businesses. In NLJ this week, Lucy James of Trowers & Hamlins explains how these orders—dubbed a ‘nuclear weapon’—preserve assets but can extend far beyond spouses to companies and business partners
A Court of Appeal ruling has clarified that ‘rent’ must be monetary—excluding tenants paid in labour from statutory protection. In this week's NLJ, James Naylor explains Garraway v Phillips, where a tenant worked two days a week instead of paying rent
Three men wrongly imprisoned for a combined 77 years have been released—yet received ‘not a penny’ in compensation, exposing deep flaws in the justice system. Writing in NLJ this week, Dr Jon Robins reports on Justin Plummer, Oliver Campbell and Peter Sullivan, whose convictions collapsed amid discredited forensics, ‘oppressive’ police interviews and unreliable ‘cell confessions’
A quiet month for employment cases still delivers key legal clarifications. In his latest Employment Law Brief for NLJ, Ian Smith reports that whistleblowing protection remains intact even where disclosures are partly self-serving, provided the worker reasonably believes they serve the ‘public interest’
Family law must shift from conflict-driven litigation to child-centred problem-solving, according to a major new report. Writing in NLJ this week, Caroline Bowden of Anthony Gold outlines findings showing overwhelming support for reform, with 92% agreeing lawyers owe duties to children as well as clients
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