In J Lobler v HMRC (TC02539 – 28 February) a Dutchman (L) who was working in the UK invested $1.4m in life assurance policies in 2006. In the next two years he withdrew most of his investment by making a partial surrender of each policy. He did not declare this on his tax returns and HMRC issued assessments charging tax under ITTOIA 2005 s 461 et seq treating $560k as taxable income. The FTT dismissed L’s appeal. Judge Hellier commented that the legislation produced an ‘outrageously unfair result’ but held that there was ‘no way to give a different interpretation to the legislation’.
Why it matters: ITTOIA 2005 ss 461–546 lay down complex rules for the taxation of gains from life insurance policies. In...
