ANALYSIS

‘A victory for common sense’. Emily Osborne (Fladgate) reviews an FTT decision on exceptional circumstances and transit days under the Statutory Residence Test.

In this month’s review, Sophie Dworetzsky (Lombard Odier) considers the practical challenges created by bringing pensions within the IHT net, alongside developments in property taxation, trust transparency and internationally mobile wealth structures.

The UK’s legal framework offers statutory and non-statutory clearances, CCMs, APAs and the forthcoming Advance Tax Certainty Service, but these mechanisms fall short in practice, write Jenny Batchelor and Ahmed Mobasshir (Ryan).

Promising but flawed? Jenny Tragner and Ali Shokoohi (S&W) examine HMRC’s SME R&D assurance pilot, which offers earlier answers on difficult points but whose lengthy form-led design may create fresh uncertainty.

Who proves what? Liesl Fichardt, Emily Au and Julius Konstantin Berling (Quinn Emanuel) set out how penalty appeals now divide the burden between HMRC and the taxpayer – and why the line between the two is far from settled.

Mike Lane and Zoe Andrews (Slaughter and May) cover the Chancellor’s move to make the foreign PE exemption mandatory, alongside Take 3.9 on film tax relief and the trap of mistaking motive for purpose.

A practical guide by Lexis®+ UK Tax examining when a non-statutory clearance is the right route, how to frame the application and how far HMRC’s response can be relied upon.