UBS AG v HMRC and Deutsche Bank Group Services (UK) Ltd v HMRC

The Upper Tribunal has reached an important decision in UBS AG v HMRC and Deutsche Bank Group Services (UK) Ltd v HMRC (Upper Tribunal – 25 September). It heard the cases together but reached different decisions. In the UBS case the bank had entered into arrangements for certain bonuses intended to be payable to identified individual employees to be paid into a scheme and used to purchase interests in shares in a company resident outside the UK. HMRC issued determinations under PAYE Regulations SI 2003/2682 reg 80 on the basis that the sums in question were ‘earnings received by employees’. The bank appealed contending that the shares received by the employees were ‘restricted securities’ within ITEPA 2003 s 423. 

The Upper Tribunal accepted this...