The GAAR meaning

In this issue: Corporate governance Company law and regulatory matters Useful information Dates for your diary Weekly highlights from other practice areas Corporate governance GSK plc and BAE Systems plc unveil new directors’ remuneration policies FTSE100 groups GSK plc and BAE Systems plc have released updated directors’ pay frameworks within their 2024 annual reports, each proposing meaningful rises for their CEOs. GSK plc has emphasised that its chief executive’s overall package sits below the lower quartile of its global biopharma peer set across all compensation metrics, with the sole exception of base pay, where she remains below the median. Accordingly, the CEO’s base pay will rise by 5%, and her on-target annual bonus will move from one times to 1.5 times salary, with the cap remaining three times salary under the new arrangements. The CEO’s LTIP award maximum will lift from six to eight times base salary, with the 2025 award set at 7.25 times to reflect that...

In this issue: Horizon scanning Tax Prohibited behaviour (discrimination, etc) Diversity and the gender pay gap Maternity, parents and carers Whistleblowing Health and safety Hybrid working Data protection and employee information Employment Tribunals Europe—EU Industrial Relations Law Reports (IRLR)—December 2025 Dates for your diary Trackers New Q&As Employment resources on Lexis+® LexTalk®Employment: a Lexis®Nexis community Daily and weekly news alerts Horizon scanning Lords veto day-one unfair dismissal rights for third time. On 17 November 2025, the House of Lords backed changes to the Employment Rights Bill to scrap day-one unfair dismissal protections, derailing the government’s headline policy for a third time amid ongoing legislative ping-pong. Peers passed the amendment by 309 to 150, meaning workers gain unfair dismissal rights after six months rather than from their first day, once more overturning MPs’ version and limiting immediate access to tribunal claims. See Law360: Lords veto day-one unfair...

For the time being, this ruling chiefly confirms that the reach of the TOAA code is far narrower than HMRC asserted, and should, with luck, deliver long-awaited certainty for taxpayers and their advisers in comparable scenarios going forward, as well as substantially curtail the use of the TOAA provisions in like circumstances, both in current matters and future disputes. As Lady Rose observed at the outset of her judgment, the TOAA regime ranks among the most bewilderingly intricate parts of UK tax law—a striking, if somewhat questionable, accolade given the usual complexity of UK taxation. It is little wonder that the appeals in this matter produced a different result at each stage of the litigation. Further illustrating the tax law’s complex nature, more than ten years have passed before the Supreme Court finally resolved the Fisher dispute at long last, in the end. It was first considered in early 2013 by the First-tier Tribunal of Britain’s Tax Chamber, though the Upper Tribunal’s reference to the Court of Justice of the...

Stop Press : From accounting periods starting on or after 1 January 2026, the Diverted Profits Tax is superseded by the unassessed transfer pricing profits rules. This Practice Note, alongside Transactions in UK land—tax rules, examines the anti-avoidance provisions aimed at countering attempts to sidestep tax on income, profits or gains connected with arrangements concerning, or trades of dealing in, land. The main anti-avoidance measure seeks to treat gains of a capital character realised on the disposal of land as income, bringing them within income tax or corporation tax. Further detail appears in Practice Note: Transactions in UK land—tax rules. From 5 July 2016 these rules superseded and expanded the former transactions in land rules (for information on prior rules, see Practice Note: Real estate—anti-avoidance: disposals of land and taxing capital gains as income (pre 5 July 2016) [Archived])...

FORTHCOMING CHANGE: Following the Autumn Budget 2024, the government initiated an independent review into the loan charge. Launched on 23 January 2025, the review’s remit was to examine the obstacles preventing people within scope of the loan charge, who have not settled and paid their tax liabilities in full, from reaching agreement with HMRC, and to recommend measures to encourage settlement with HMRC (see News Analysis: Autumn Budget 2024—Independent review of the loan charge). To support this work, a call for evidence—directed at those still affected by the loan charge and their advisers—was issued on 28 March 2025. The Final Report, together with the government’s response, was released at Budget 2025 on 26 November 2025...

This starter guide offers an overview of the Private Client practice area. It is designed for trainee solicitors, paralegals, and anyone new to Private Client work. It concentrates on core topics within Private Client law and signposts additional Lexis+® UK resources and materials that deliver more comprehensive detail. Newcomers to Private Client will also find the Overviews within each subtopic of the Private Client module helpful. These Overviews introduce each subtopic and link to pertinent content within it, aiding navigation of the area. For instance, see: Will drafting—overview and Inheritance tax (IHT)—overview. If something is not covered here, try browsing our Private Client topic tree or using the search bar to locate further Private Client content. The guide also includes links to help you get the most from the Private Client materials, including how to subscribe to email alerts and how to contact the LexisAsk team. Key topics in Private Client Private Client lawyers commonly handle: Wills Probate Trusts Powers of...