Taxable person meaning

This Checklist This Checklist should be read alongside Practice Notes: Trusts—disclosure of beneficial ownership information through the Trust Registration Service (TRS), and Practice Notes: record-keeping and Trust Registration Service (TRS). See also Practice Notes: Trust Registration Service (TRS)—table of registration requirements and deadlines, and Trust Registration Service (TRS)—trusts excluded from registration. These Practice Notes provide guidance on trustees’ obligations arising from implementing, in relation to trust registration, the EU’s Fourth Anti-Money Laundering Directive, Directive (EU) 2015/849 (4MLD), via the Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017 (MLR 2017), SI 2017/692, and the EU’s Fifth Anti-Money Laundering Directive, Directive (EU) 2018/843 (5MLD), via the Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020 (MLR 2020), SI 2020/991. As part of this implementation, and for the purposes of this Checklist, references to MLR 2017, SI 2017/692 include the amendments incorporated when MLR 2020, SI 2020/991 took effect, unless stated otherwise. Beneficial owners of a trust include the settlor(s), trustee(s), beneficiaries, and any other...

In this issue: VAT Anti-avoidance Employment taxes Taxes management and litigation Finance Daily and weekly news alerts Dates for your diary Trackers New and updated content Useful information VAT Court of Appeal—facilitators of VAT fraud can be deregistered even if they make legitimate taxable supplies (Impact Contracting Solutions Limited v HMRC) In Impact Contracting Solutions Ltd [2025] EWCA Civ 623, the Court of Appeal affirmed the Upper Tribunal’s finding that HMRC is entitled to cancel a person’s VAT registration for reasons tied to tax fraud, even where that person also makes bona fide taxable supplies, so long as deregistration is a proportionate response on the facts. See News Analysis: Court of Appeal—facilitators of VAT fraud can be deregistered even if they make legitimate taxable supplies (Impact Contracting Solutions Limited v HMRC). VAT Regulations amended The Value Added Tax (Amendment) Regulations 2025, SI 2025/578, amend the Value Added Tax Regulations 1995, SI...

In this issue: VAT Share sales Taxes management and litigation Budgets and Finance Bills International Individuals and income tax Financial services LexTalk®Tax: a Lexis®Nexis community Daily and weekly news alerts New and updated content Dates for your diary Trackers Useful information VAT FTT rules biscuits were zero-rated as they were not partly chocolate-covered (Ferrero UK Ltd v HMRC). As highlighted last week, in Ferrero UK Ltd v HMRC [2025] UKFTT 1202 (TC), the tribunal concluded the taxpayer’s biscuits were not in part coated with chocolate and therefore qualified for VAT zero-rating. See News Analysis: FTT rules biscuits were zero-rated as they were not partly covered in chocolate (Ferrero UK Ltd v HMRC). Supreme Court confirms hospital car parking charges carry VAT (Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust v HMRC). As noted in last week’s highlights, in Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust v HMRC [2025] UKSC 37, the Supreme Court held that...

Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust v HMRC [2024] EWCA Civ 177 It was undisputed that the appellant, Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, qualified as a public authority for the purposes of section 41A of the Value Added Tax Act 1994 (VATA 1994). The question was whether, in providing car parking facilities, the Trust satisfied the two statutory conditions in VATA 1994, s 41A for treatment as a non-taxable person. The car parking services had to be supplied in the course of activities undertaken by the Trust acting as a public authority; and The supply must not give rise to a significant distortion of competition. The Court concluded that both requirements were fulfilled. The notion of a “special legal regime” was pertinent to the first condition and stems from Court of Justice of the European Union authority on the application of Article 13 of Council Directive 2006/112/EC of 28 November...

Money Laundering Regulations 2017 and Money Laundering Regulations 2020 The Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017 (MLR 2017), SI 2017/692, sit within the UK’s anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing framework. They took effect on 26 June 2017 to implement the EU’s Fourth Anti-Money Laundering Directive, Directive (EU) 2015/849 (4MLD), and have subsequently been broadened significantly by the Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020 (MLR 2020), SI 2020/991. Those 2020 amendments give effect to aspects of the EU’s Fifth Anti-Money Laundering Directive, Directive (EU) 2018/843 (5MLD), concerning the registration of trusts. The Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (Amendment) Regulations 2019, SI 2019/1511, also transposed elements of 5MLD into UK law; however, they addressed areas other than trust registration and therefore fall outside the ambit of this Practice Note. Unless indicated otherwise, references in this Practice Note to MLR 2017, SI 2017/692, should be read as including the changes introduced by MLR 2020, SI 2020/991. The chief focus of...

General principles The trustees are, for tax purposes, regarded collectively as a single person, distinct from the individuals who serve as trustees from time to time. An interest in possession (IIP) means a beneficiary has an immediate right to the trust income as it arises. That income belongs to the beneficiary, and the trustees lack authority to retain it, save to meet proper expenses. Where trust income does not fall within the definition of accumulated or discretionary income in section 480 of the Income Tax Act 2007 (ITA 2007), it is treated as the income of ‘other persons’ and taxed at the basic and dividend rates. Ultimately, the income is assessed on the beneficiary at their personal rates, irrespective of when, and even whether, it is actually paid to them. Nevertheless, the trustees are liable to income tax on income arising from trust property because they are the legal owners of that property and thus the persons who receive the income. The way IIP and discretionary trusts are differentiated...

ARCHIVED: This Practice Note has been archived and is not maintained. During the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, the UK government brought in a range of measures to assist individuals and businesses negatively affected by the pandemic. Several measures involved funds paid directly by central or local government with no requirement to repay, ie grants rather than loans. For further details on these schemes, see Practice Note: Coronavirus (COVID-19)—tax implications [Archived]. Guidance on these schemes stated that recipients should recognise such grants as taxable income, as they effectively substituted business income that would otherwise have been earned. On 29 May 2020, the government released draft legislation, a tax information and impact note, and explanatory notes for consultation. This was ultimately enacted as section 106 and Schedule 16 to the Finance Act 2020 (FA 2020). The legislation’s purposes were: to treat COVID-19 support payments as income where the business fell within the scope of income tax or corporation tax to empower HMRC to claw back payments to which...

Key points Residence determines the scope of a person’s liability to UK income tax and capital gains tax (CGT). An individual’s tax residence is established under the Statutory Residence Test (SRT). A person can be tax resident in multiple countries at the same time, as each jurisdiction applies its own domestic rules. Someone who is not resident in the UK is taxed only on UK‑source income and on certain gains from disposing of UK assets, including residential property. Value added tax (VAT), stamp duty land tax (SDLT) and the Annual Tax on Enveloped Dwellings (ATED) may apply to both residents and non‑residents. Before 6 April 2025, domicile—rather than residence—was the principal factor in determining exposure to inheritance tax (IHT). From 6 April 2025, IHT liability is largely linked to the period an individual has been resident in the UK. Residence of individuals—summary An individual’s UK tax residence is relevant when determining liability to income tax and CGT. Those...

This Q&A presumes the beverages are not provided as part of catering. The Value Added Tax Act 1994 (VATA 1994) sets out the UK’s value added tax (VAT) framework. For broader guidance on VAT, consult Practice Notes: What is VAT?, When does VAT apply? and When can a person recover VAT? Zero-rated supplies A zero-rated supply still counts as a taxable supply, despite no VAT being levied on it. Accordingly, it differs from a VAT-exempt supply in VAT terms...