In Rossendale Borough Council v Hurstwood, the Court of Appeal considered some reasonably straightforward and widely used planning schemes designed to avoid business rates on unoccupied properties. The decision confirms a number of important principles drawn from general corporate as well as tax law. The court considered whether the corporate veil could be pierced to disregard SPVs inserted for avoidance purposes and what preliminary factors need to be established before a wider, purposive, Ramsay approach to construction could apply. In finding that the Ramsay principle had no application to the business rates schemes, the judgment keeps within the confines of Ramsay established post-BMBF and resists the temptation to widen its use beyond statutory construction into the territory of anti-avoidance.
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In Rossendale Borough Council v Hurstwood, the Court of Appeal considered some reasonably straightforward and widely used planning schemes designed to avoid business rates on unoccupied properties. The decision confirms a number of important principles drawn from general corporate as well as tax law. The court considered whether the corporate veil could be pierced to disregard SPVs inserted for avoidance purposes and what preliminary factors need to be established before a wider, purposive, Ramsay approach to construction could apply. In finding that the Ramsay principle had no application to the business rates schemes, the judgment keeps within the confines of Ramsay established post-BMBF and resists the temptation to widen its use beyond statutory construction into the territory of anti-avoidance.
If you are not a subscriber, subscribe now to read this content.
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