Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom

HMRC v Moir Management: FTT finds umbrella annuity arrangements notifiable under DOTAS, holds Moir to be a promoter, and imposes around £1.6m in maximum penalties

Published on: 18 November 2025

Published by a LexisNexis Tax expert

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Article summary

HMRC v Moir Management Services Ltd [2025] UKFTT 1333 (TC)

This appeal centred on HMRC seeking penalties from a UK company, Moir, for not disclosing arrangements—labelled by HMRC the ‘Jarvis International Annuity arrangement’—under the DOTAS regime, and for failing to comply with a pre‑disclosure enquiry notice. HMRC contended the scheme comprised ‘notifiable arrangements’ and that Moir was a ‘promoter’ for the purposes of sections 307 and 306 of the Finance Act 2004 (FA 2004), respectively.

The model placed individuals via employment agencies with end‑clients that required engagement through an umbrella company. Although Moir portrayed itself as the umbrella, workers were directed to enter employment contracts with an offshore entity, Jarvis. Under the set‑up, individuals were paid a ‘basic’ taxable wage (with income tax and NICs withheld) alongside a substantially larger, untaxed sum, said to arise from an ‘annuity based payment solution’. Jarvis extracted management charges of about 13–15% of the gross amounts the end‑client paid for each worker’s services.

Moir maintained the annuity mechanism was designed to help workers ‘on the financial breadline’ manage their ‘cash‑flow’, and any tax benefit they obtained was merely ‘incidental’...

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