Issue 1752

Analysis

• Burlington: towards an international fiscal meaning of ‘main purpose’
• Is a loan earnings? Revisiting Rangers
• Tax and the City for May 2026
• How to be a good host (employer): it’s all in the detail
• Lycamobile UK: guaranteed availability, guaranteed VAT

In brief

• Shinebrook: demolition is not construction
• Madsen: discovery assessments

News

• HMRC suggest SDLT payments may trigger adviser registration rules
• NIC (Employer Pensions Contributions) Act receives royal assent
• CIOT raises concerns over large business compliance burden
• Commonwealth Games income tax regulations
• CIOT calls for modernisation of treaty clearance process
• OECD releases Global Minimum Tax Implementation Toolkit and updated FAQs
• European Commission refers Hungary to CJEU over its retail tax regime
• HMRC update exchange of information agreements notice
• HMRC remove Cameroon and Morocco from CRS reporting list
• UK-Spain double tax treaty
• Latest HMRC Stakeholder Digest
• R&D tax relief software issue
• HMRC spending on debt collection rises to £5.2m per month

Cases

• Professional Game Match Officials Ltd v HMRC
• M Parker v HMRC
• T Kwok v HMRC
• Other cases that caught our eye: 8 May 2026

One minute with

• One minute with... Jeff Soar

Trackers

• HMRC manual changes: 8 May 2026