In Scotts Atlantic Management v HMRC [2015] UKUT 66 (13 February 2015) the UT found that a scheme devised to accelerate the availability of deductions on the provision of employee benefits had failed.
Under FA 2003 Sch 24 an employer is not entitled to a deduction for the cost of providing a benefit to an employee unless such benefit gives rise to a charge to income tax for the employee within nine months of the accounting period. Scotts Atlantic had implemented a scheme – which involved a movement of value on the granting of an option without ‘a payment of money or transfer of assets’ – to circumvent the restriction.
The UT accepted that the deduction claimed was in respect of the amount of the value shifting. However the value shifting had occurred only as one step in a larger arrangement which included...