The result has just been released in the case of McArthur and others v HMRC, an appeal against closure notices based upon valuations of companies on AIM in which HMRC had disputed the valuation of the shares, despite the fact that they were traded on AIM.
The Tax Tribunal allowed the taxpayers’ appeals, discounting the evidence of the in-house HMRC valuer and accepting the values advanced by the taxpayers. The closure notices had been issued more than a decade after the tax reliefs claimed.
Alistair comments: “ This is a highly satisfactory result. I was instructed under the Direct Access scheme and found myself pitted against a team of not less than 3 specialist tax barristers instructed by HMRC. The taxpayers were (rightly, in my view) outraged by the time which HMRC had taken to deal with their tax matters. There is a good case for an inquiry into HMRC’s handling of a whole string of gift aid cases. This was no way to treat taxpayers”.