Peter Vaines rounds up the latest developments in the world of tax
Previously I made reference to the case of HMRC v P A Holdings Limited (see 160 NLJ 7398 & 7399, p 22) and I make no apology in returning to this really important matter, having regard to the recent Court of Appeal judgment ([2011] EWCA CIV 1414).
HMRC v P A Holdings Ltd
The facts were quite complicated, but in essence, some employees acquired shares in a company connected with their employer. In principle, the receipt of the shares by the employees would represent taxable earnings.
The issue was the tax treatment of the dividends subsequently paid by the company on those shares. HMRC argued that the dividends derived from the employment and should, therefore, be taxed as earnings.
The First-tier Tribunal found that the dividends were correctly categorised as dividends. They also found that they could be treated as earnings, but that did not stop them being dividends.
Taxing dividends
So, if they were dividends and could also be earnings, how should they be taxed as
