Qualifying partnership meaning

In this issue: Budgets and Finance Bills VAT Taxes management and litigation Individuals and income tax International Employment taxes Real estate tax LexTalk®Tax: a Lexis®Nexis community Daily and weekly news alerts Dates for your diary Trackers New and updated content Useful information Budgets and Finance Bills Finance Bill 2026 completes House of Commons committee stage On 3 February 2026, the Public Bill Committee concluded scrutiny of Finance Bill 2026 after just six of the scheduled 14 sittings. The Bill has been reissued to fold in government amendments cleared in committee, bringing the Commons committee phase to a close. The revised Bill will proceed to report stage in the Commons—date to follow—which is Parliament’s last chance to make substantive changes. The Commons recess runs from 13 to 20 February, with business resuming on 23 February. See: LNB News 04/02/2026 19 and Tax—Finance Bill 2026 tracker—progress through Parliament. National Insurance Contributions...

Mergers The CMA has decided that Amazon.com, Inc’s partnership with Anthropic PBC is not a qualifying merger under the Enterprise Act 2002—see further, case page. NOTE—For live CMA mergers, see UK mergers—ongoing cases tracker. Private actions The CAT has published two opt-out collective proceedings applications under section 47B Competition Act 1998: Vicki Shotbolt Class Representative v Valve Corporation, on behalf of UK-based consumers, alleging abuse of dominance contrary to Article 102 TFEU and/or Chapter II in PC video games and related add-on content—see further, application. Professor Barry Rodger v Google and others, for UK-based consumers, alleging breaches of Article 102 TFEU and/or Chapter II in Android app distribution and the licensable smart mobile OS markets—see further, application. NOTE—For UK private actions made public, see UK private actions—ongoing cases tracker. Antitrust The CMA has issued an updated administrative timetable for its probe into anti-competitive conduct in end-of-life vehicle recycling—see further, case page. NOTE—For live behavioural investigations before the CMA,...

Waterside Escapes Ltd v HMRC [2020] What are the practical implications of this case? The judgment considers two strands of the SDLT code: the 15% charge in FA 2003, Sch 4A and the partnership rules in FA 2003, Sch 15, alongside a detailed review of the connected persons provisions in the CTA 2010. It confirms that, for FA 2003, Sch 4A, para 5(2), what matters is the company’s subjective intention about whether a non-qualifying individual may occupy a dwelling, and that intention can be shown by a clause in a shareholders’ agreement. The case reminds tax practitioners that the wording of shareholders’ agreements and other governing documents can be pivotal in determining whether relief applies (here, relief from the 15% SDLT rate was unavailable because of a permissive clause in the shareholders’ agreement). It further confirms that the concept of occupation for the 15% relief is intentionally broad and includes all forms of occupation except where the use is wholly for business purposes (in...

The company establishing a SIP The company setting up a share incentive plan (SIP) does not need to be the same entity whose shares are allocated. However, both: the shares to be granted, and the connection between the SIP-establishing entity and the company whose shares are issued must satisfy the relevant legislative conditions. A SIP can be created either: solely for employees of the company that establishes it; or for those employees and for employees of other companies it controls (a group plan)—see Constituent companies below. In a group where the parent company’s shares are to be awarded, there are two options: the parent company may establish the SIP and extend it to the appropriate subsidiaries; or each subsidiary may establish its own SIP, provided the other statutory requirements concerning the shares under award are met—see Requirements for the shares. The advantage of each subsidiary operating its...

Business asset disposal relief Business asset disposal relief (BADR) is a capital gains tax (CGT) relief intended to encourage individuals to start and grow their own businesses. Where the qualifying conditions are met, for disposals made on or after 6 April 2026 the CGT rate on specified business assets is reduced to 18%. Before 6 April 2025 the rate available under BADR was 10%, rising to 14% from 6 April 2025 under the Finance Act 2025, which also provided for a further increase to 18% for disposals on or after 6 April 2026. Individuals operating as sole traders or in partnership Individuals disposing of shares in, or securities of, a company Trustees of a settlement holding the business assets Companies are not eligible for BADR in respect of chargeable gains that they realise. A lifetime cap limits the total amount of BADR that any one individual can claim...

Corporate intangible assets regime — general rule Under Part 8 of the Corporation Tax Act 2009, a company’s profits and losses on intangible fixed assets are taken into account for corporation tax as credits and debits in accordance with the accounting treatment of those assets. In essence, GAAP-compliant accounts form the foundation for determining the taxable and relievable amounts connected to a company’s IFAs. This is often summarised as ‘tax follows the accounts’. There are, however, several exceptions where the corporate intangible assets rules require a departure from the accounting outcome, with IFA credits and debits calculated on a different footing. For broader guidance on the taxation of IFAs, see Practice Note: How intangible fixed assets are taxed—basic principles. Relevant assets One instance where the legislation moves away from relying on the company’s accounts concerns ‘relevant assets’. A relevant asset is: goodwill in a business or part of a business an IFA that consists of information which relates to customers ...

1 Definitions and interpretation 1.1 The terms below shall be interpreted as follows: Accumulation Period — with respect to Partnership Shares, the span during which the Trustee holds a Qualifying Employee’s Partnership Share Money before buying Partnership Shares or returning it to the employee; Acquisition Date — (a) for Partnership Shares where an Accumulation Period is in place, has the meaning given in paragraph 52(5) of Schedule 2; (b) for Partnership Shares where no Accumulation Period is in place, has the meaning given in paragraph 50(4) of Schedule 2; (c) for Dividend Shares, has the same meaning given by paragraph 66(4) of Schedule 2; Associated Company — has the same meaning as in paragraph 94 of Schedule 2; Award Date — in respect of Free Shares or Matching Shares, the date on which those Shares are granted; Award — (a) in respect of Free...