Double taxation relief on foreign dividend income: It is now well established that significant elements of the UK’s tax regime governing the treatment of foreign dividends received by UK companies were incompatible with EU principles of freedom of establishment. HMRC v Post Prudential closure notice group [2024] UKUT 23 (TCC) (25 January 2024) a test case for a very large number of companies who received dividends on shares held as part of an investment portfolio is not about the principle itself but how it is to be applied in practice. The problem reduced to its simplest form is this: when the time limit for making a claim for double tax relief had expired nobody was aware of the possibility that such claims might exist – it was only years later that a series of court decisions showed that relief might be available. So how could these...
