Prudential Assurance Co Ltd v HMRC

In Prudential Assurance Co Ltd v HMRC (and related appeals) (Ch D – 5 November) a large insurance company and two associated companies took proceedings in the Ch D contending that the UK rules on the taxation of dividends were a breach of Article 56 of the EC Treaty. The Ch D directed that the proceedings should be adjourned until it was known whether the Supreme Court had granted leave to appeal against the CA decision in Test Claimants in the FII Group Litigation v HMRC [2010] EWCA Civ 103. Henderson J observed that ‘the court should in my view think long and hard before launching another GLO missile into the judicial stratosphere when a “wait and see” strategy is available as an alternative’. He also expressed the provisional view that the claims fell within the scope of TMA 1970 s 33.

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