In Clavis Liberty 1 LP v HMRC [2016] UKFTT 253 (18 April 2016) the FTT found that a partnership which had been involved in a composite transaction with circular money flows had not incurred a trading loss.
The appeal concerned a closure notice denying a trading loss. The dispute related to a £60m dividend received by the partnership from Helios (a company incorporated in the Cayman Islands). However the partnership contended that this was the income of Dickens Ventures (a company incorporated in the British Virgin Islands) by virtue of the sale of the right to receive that dividend by Dickens to Helios without any sale of the shares to which the dividends related (ICTA 1988 s 730). The dispute also related to the deductibility of professional fees paid by the partnership for tax advice.
The first issue was whether the partnership had been carrying on...
