The new income tax charge on offshore receipts in respect of intangibles

Finance Bill 2019 includes provisions taxing a non-UK resident person that is also not resident in a full treaty jurisdiction on gross income from intangible property held in low-tax jurisdictions to the extent that it is referable to UK sales. The draft legislation will take effect from 6 April 2019, although anti-forestalling provisions and a TAAR will apply from 29 October 2018. It is, in the authors’ opinion, debateable whether there is a principled basis for imposing tax on gross income. There are also practical concerns as to how businesses can be expected to trace use of their product or services by third parties; and the TAAR should be clarified to clearly enable restructuring in a way which aligns ownership of the IP with a substantive business in a ‘good’ treaty jurisdiction.