Difficult choices: disguised remuneration in the context of corporate insolvency

The Disguised Remuneration provisions have now been in place for some time and have been amended frequently. Those amendments, alongside changes in HMRC’s practices and settlement terms, result in considerable complexity. Specific difficulties can arise when companies enter liquidation, in particular around the implications of agreement or otherwise under HMRC’s published settlement terms. The complexity of the rules leads the authors to conclude that a review of the provisions as a whole, rather than the narrow review currently proposed based solely on the loan charge, would be helpful for taxpayers and for HMRC.