Featured documents
This Practice Note outlines the law concerning criminal recklessness. The subjective test for recklessness Certain statutory and common law offences allow the prosecution to prove mens rea through ‘recklessness’. Put simply, recklessness is where the accused takes an unjustified risk that results in unlawful harm or damage. The House of Lords in R v G reaffirmed the subjective approach to recklessness. Before R v G, two distinct tests were used, depending on the offence charged: Subjective recklessness from R v Cunningham: the prosecution had to establish that the accused personally foresaw the risk. Objective recklessness from R v Caldwell: the prosecution only needed to show that the risk would have been obvious to a reasonable person, without proving the accused themselves foresaw it. In R v G, the House of Lords concluded that the objective test could operate unfairly where a defendant did not foresee the
This Practice Note examines the remedy of rescission, explaining when and in what manner a contract can be unwound (at common law, in equity and under statute) and thereby terminated and brought to an end. It covers the consequences and effects of rescission, the principal grounds for setting aside an agreement (misrepresentation, mistake, undue influence, duress, non‑disclosure, fiduciary misdealing and bribery) and the main obstacles to claiming rescission—affirmation, the intervention of third‑party rights and the impossibility of restitution. For further guidance on rescission in the context of misrepresentation, see Practice Note: Misrepresentation—rescission as a remedy. There are many ways in which a contract may reach its end; see: Terminating contracts—how and when a contract ends—overview for a brief and accessible summary, with links to the related further practical guidance, including Practice Note: Termination and expiry of contracts. For a table
What is a res judicata? A res judicata is a determination by a court or tribunal with jurisdiction over the cause of action and the parties, which finally disposes of the issues decided so they cannot be litigated again by those bound, save on appeal. Final judgments entered by default or by consent fall within this concept, whereas rulings on purely procedural points and any decision lacking finality do not. The doctrine’s aim is to bring litigation to an end and shield parties from being harassed by the same dispute twice. in personam—binds the parties and their privies in rem—binds all persons, privy or otherwise (ie a judgment binding the whole world) A party may rely on res judicata: as an estoppel to defeat an opponent’s claim or defence; and/or as the basis of their own claim or
The offence of causing grievous bodily harm with intent Wounding or causing grievous bodily harm (GBH) with intent can be tried solely in the Crown Court on indictment. Elements of the offence Under the Offences against the Person Act 1861 (OATPA 1861), the prosecution must establish that the defendant unlawfully and maliciously: wounded with the intention of causing GBH, or caused GBH with that intention, or wounded intending to resist or prevent the lawful arrest or detention of any person, or caused GBH intending to resist or prevent the lawful arrest or detention of any person ‘Unlawfully’ and ‘maliciously’ Unlawfully The wounding or causing of GBH must be unlawful. Such conduct may be lawful if used: in self-defence in defence of another in defence of property for the prevention of crime where the victim gave express or implied consent For further information on these defences, see below:
Most recent Practice notes
Broadly speaking, tax applies to UK registered pension schemes in three different areas: the tax treatment of member and employer contributions, including any repayment of member contributions the tax treatment of assets held by the scheme, including the investment returns generated by those assets the tax treatment of benefits paid out by the scheme Where an individual participates in more than one registered scheme, the contributions paid to—and the benefits received from—each arrangement are combined and considered together when establishing that person’s overall tax liability. This Practice Note concerns registered private sector pension schemes. Public sector pension schemes are predominantly governed by separate legislation. Their tax position is broadly similar, though not invariably the same, as that which applies to registered private pension schemes......
FORTHCOMING DEVELOPMENT : Section 10 of the Finance Act 2022 will raise the normal minimum pension age ( NMPA) from 55 to 57 on 6 April 2028, with an exception for members of the firefighters, police and armed forces public service pension schemes. The Act will also permit members of registered pension schemes to access benefits before 57 where, on or before 4 November 2021, they either possessed an ‘unqualified right’ to take benefits, or were engaged in a substantive transfer to a scheme that, on or before that date, offered an unqualified right to a protected pension age below 57. To make use of this 2028 protection, the scheme’s rules must have contained, as at 11 February 2021, an unqualified right to take entitlement to scheme benefits before age 57. For further details, see Practice Note: Increasing the normal minimum pension age ( NMPA) to...
Accrual rate The speed at which pension entitlement builds as pensionable service is completed within a final salary arrangement, e.g. 1/60 for each year of pensionable service. Accrued benefits Benefits relating to service built up to a given date, measured with reference to current earnings or projected future pay. A-day ‘ A-day’ is the widely used term for the broad pension tax ‘simplification’ reforms that came into force on 6 April 2006. These changes followed a 2004 government policy to rationalise the British tax system as it applied to pension schemes. The objective was to cut the volume of legislation accumulated under successive administrations, folding the previous eight tax regimes into a single regime for all personal and occupational pensions. Key areas covered included: how much pension contribution was allowed; the range of schemes an individual could invest in; how much an...
ARCHIVED: This archived Practice Note summarises the principal, general effects for pensions resulting from the UK’s departure from the European Union ( EU) and the close of the implementation period (also called the transition period) on IP completion day (11 pm on 31 December 2020). The Practice Note also explores potential changes to pensions law after IP completion day. It is not being updated and is provided for background only. For details on the pensions impact of the Retained EU Law ( Revocation and Reform) Act 2023, see Practice Note: Retained EU law ( Revocation and Reform) Act 2023—impact on pensions law. What happened on IP completion day? On 31 January 2020 (exit day), the UK left EU membership and no longer had the right to engage in the EU’s political bodies and governance framework. Under the transitional provisions in Part 4 of the...
Across the UK, the majority of private sector pension arrangements—covering both occupational and personal plans—are created as trusts and, as such, fall within the scope of trust law. Trustees appointed under the governing trust deed must operate in line with that deed, the scheme rules, and any overriding legislation relevant to the scheme at all times. Above all, trust law requires trustees to prioritise the best interests of scheme members, but always consistently within the confines of the scheme’s own governing provisions and any applicable general law, in every decision they make under the scheme. Within the public sector, pension arrangements are predominantly set up by Parliamentary statute and are governed by their scheme rules and overriding legislation currently in force; however, some are constituted as trusts, bringing them under trust law and obliging compliance with the trust deed, the rules, with any...
Types of death benefits payable There are two categories of scheme benefits payable when a member dies: pension death benefits lump sum death benefits Up to 5 April 2015, the pension death benefit provisions in the Finance Act 2004 ( FA 2004), s 167, meant a pension death benefit could only be paid to a dependant of the member for it to be an authorised payment. ‘ Dependant’ is set out in FA 2004 Sch 28 Pt 2 para 15. From 6 April 2015, a pension death benefit may be settled not only on a dependant of the deceased member but also on a nominee or a successor and still be treated as an authorised payment. ‘ Nominee’ is defined in FA 2004 Sch 28 Pt 2 para 27A, while ‘successor’ is defined in FA 2004 Sch 28 Pt 2 para 27F. In...
Levying penalties against those who enable defeated tax avoidance arrangements is intended to deter the architects, sellers and intermediaries of abusive avoidance structures and arrangements. Rolling out and strengthening this statutory framework forms part of a wider governmental drive, developed over a number of years, to eradicate tax evasion and aggressive tax planning. Complementary actions in this sphere encompass the general anti‑abuse rule ( GAAR); issuing conduct notices to promoters of tax avoidance schemes ( POTAS); creating criminal offences for promoters and offshore tax evaders; and publishing a further revised edition of the Professional Conduct in Relation to Taxation guidance (see General principles of tax avoidance— Private Client—overview for further details). At Spring Statement 2025 on 26 March 2025, the government opened a consultation on a package of measures aimed at tightening the net around promoters (and other enablers) of marketed tax...
FORTHCOMING CHANGES: At the 2025 Budget on 26 November 2025, the government signalled plans for modest corrective changes to the residence-based tax regime established by the Finance Act 2025......
ARCHIVED : This Practice Note has been archived and is not maintained. It describes the rules for overseas workday relief ( OWR) in force before 6 April 2025. Overseas Workday Relief ( OWR) provides an exemption from UK income tax for eligible non-domiciled persons who choose the remittance basis, covering unremitted 'general earnings' from employment attributable to duties carried out abroad in the relevant tax year. Following the government’s reforms to the tax treatment of non-domiciled individuals in Finance ( No 2) Act 2017, many who had formerly been treated as non-domiciled under UK rules are now treated as UK domiciled for all tax purposes; consequently the remittance basis and OWR are no longer accessible to them under the amended UK tax rules in force. Consult Practice Note: Deemed domicile for tax from 6 April 2017. Before 6 April 2013, a comparable facility to OWR existed on a...
ARCHIVED : Section 20 of the Finance Act 2025 ( FA 2025) repealed the offshore receipts in respect of intangible property ( ORIP) regime for amounts accruing on or after 31 December 2024. Accordingly, ORIP is relevant only to receipts arising from 6 April 2019 through to and including 30 December 2024. The regime was withdrawn on the basis that the undertaxed profits rule ( UTPR), which came into force in the UK on 31 December 2024, is expected to provide a more comprehensive deterrent to the multinational tax-planning arrangements that ORIP was designed to tackle. HMRC’s guidance at INTM620710 confirms that, for the 2024–25 tax year, entities within ORIP’s scope need only report ‘ UK-derived amounts’ arising before 31 December 2024. For further detail on the UTPR, see: Multinational top-up tax and domestic top–up tax—overview......
Finance ( No 2) Act 2017 ( F( No 2) A 2017) ushered in a range of tax reforms affecting foreign domiciliaries, with substantial revisions to the treatment of offshore trusts. Key features included the creation of the ‘protected settlement’ concept and the related idea of ‘tainting’. This Practice Note highlights the core elements of the updated framework as it concerns settlors of offshore trusts nearing deemed domicile status under the 15-year rule, and their trustees. For further detail on deemed domicile, including the 15-year rule, see Practice Note: Deemed domicile for tax from 6 April 2017. Abolition of the remittance basis and introduction of a residence-based IHT regime from 6 April 2025 Finance Act 2025 ( FA 2025), which received Royal Assent on 20 March 2025, legislates to remove the remittance basis of taxation and introduce a...
Background to Money Laundering Regulations 2017 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 broader anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing framework. They gave effect to the EU’s Fourth Anti- Money Laundering Directive ( Directive ( EU) 2015/849) (4MLD) and replaced the Money Laundering Regulations 2007, SI 2007/2157. Subsequent changes—the Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing ( Amendment) Regulations 2019, SI 2019/1511, and the Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing ( Amendment) ( EU Exit) Regulations 2020 ( MLR 2020), SI 2020/991—implemented elements of the EU’s Fifth Anti- Money Laundering Directive ( Directive ( EU) 2018/843) (5MLD), including major expansions to trust registration duties. HMRC set an initial deadline of 1 September 2022 for registering ‘non-taxable trusts’, supported by the Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing ( Amendment)...
OECD’s Model Mandatory Disclosure Rules The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development ( OECD) released its model Mandatory Disclosure Rules ( MDR) covering Common Reporting Standard ( CRS) Avoidance Arrangements and Offshore Structures in March 2018, with the objective of achieving country-by-country alignment in applying disclosure and transparency to combat aggressive tax planning worldwide. The model MDR are described as ‘the model rules’ in The International Tax Enforcement ( Disclosable Arrangements) Regulations 2023, SI 2023/38 (the MDR regulations), which bring the MDR into effect in the UK. In this Practice Note, references to the model rules and the model MDR are to the OECD’s model MDR. References to the MDR and MDR regulations denote the rules in SI 2023/38 that implement the model MDR domestically. Under the model rules, taxpayers and their advisers must provide tax authorities with information on specified...
A limited liability partnership ( LLP) A limited liability partnership ( LLP) is a corporate body established under the Limited Liability Partnerships Act 2000 ( LLPA 2000). Most rules governing LLPs derive from modified company law rather than partnership law (see Practice Note: The nature of a limited liability partnership and its legal framework). The requirements for incorporation are prescribed in the LLPA 2000 and the Companies Act 2006 ( CA 2006), as adapted by the Limited Liability Partnerships ( Application of Companies Act 2006) Regulations 2009, SI 2009/1804 ( LLP ( Application of CA 2006) Regs 2009). The method for forming an LLP closely mirrors the procedure for company incorporation......
STOP PRESS relating to abolition of furnished holiday lettings relief : Announced at the Spring Budget 2024 on 6 March 2024, and with draft legislation published at the Autumn Budget on 30 October 2024, the government is abolishing the furnished holiday lettings regime. Subject to transitional provisions, the reforms will: apply the finance cost restriction to loan interest connected with these properties; remove capital allowances for new expenditure (with relief for replacement of domestic items available instead); withdraw access to trading business asset chargeable gains relief; and exclude this property income from relevant UK earnings when calculating maximum pension relief. From April 2025, income and gains from furnished holiday lettings will form part of a taxpayer’s UK or overseas property business and be treated accordingly. The measures are effective from 6 April 2025 for income tax and CGT, and from 1 April 2025 for corporation tax. See News...
ARCHIVED : This Practice Note is archived and no longer updated. Prompted by the Office of Tax Simplification’s proposals and an HMRC consultation, the territorial reach of the employment-related securities option regime for internationally mobile workers (and the associated corporation tax relief) was altered with effect from 6 April 2015. From that date, the governing provisions sit in Schedule 9, Part 1 of the Finance Act 2014 ( FA 2014). The rules bite on chargeable events on or after 6 April 2015, and cover options granted both prior to (arguably on a retrospective basis) and after that date; see commencement provisions in FA 2014, Sch 9, Pt 4......
ISAs ISAs are tax-free vehicles that allow UK residents to hold a variety of investments. They began as cash or stocks and shares options for those aged over 16, but in November 2011 the Junior ISA was introduced, enabling tax-free cash accounts to be created for the benefit of under-16s. Innovative finance ISAs took effect from 6 April 2016. Help to buy ISAs launched on 1 December 2015 as a tax-free cash account aimed at helping first-time buyers save towards a UK residential property. In addition to receiving interest on the balance tax-free, the government will boost the amount saved with a 25% bonus (up to a maximum of £3,000) when the property is purchased. These ISAs are closed to new savers from 1 December 2019, although anyone with an existing help to buy ISA can keep saving into it until 30 November 2029. Those who had...
STOP PRESS: On 28 April 2025, the UK government released draft changes to domestic tax legislation to refresh the rules on permanent establishments ( PE) and to update the Investment Manager Exemption ( IME). Stemming from a 2023 consultation and wide-ranging dialogue with industry participants, the proposals acknowledge that elements of the UK’s PE and IME regimes—now more than two decades old—no longer align with the practicalities of today’s asset management landscape. Comments on the consultation are sought by 7 July 2025. For further details, see: Open consultation: Reform of UK law in relation to transfer pricing, permanent establishment and Diverted Profits Tax. The core aim of the investment manager exemption ( IME) is to ensure a UK-based investment manager ( IM) is not treated as a branch or agent of a non-resident client when executing investment trades for that client. Absent the IME, where the...
Residence nil rate band ( RNRB) This Practice Note outlines the residence nil rate band ( RNRB), once called the additional threshold and also referred to as the residential nil rate band or residential property nil rate band. It sets out what the RNRB is, when it can apply, how the figure is worked out and also the process for claiming it in practice. Although this Practice Note includes some links to worked examples, customers are directed to Practice Note: Q& As for extensive links to Q& As and worked examples showing how the RNRB operates across different practical situations and various scenarios in practice. The RNRB sits alongside the basic NRB and can further cut the inheritance tax ( IHT) due on death. It is set against the taxable value of the estate, but unlike the basic NRB it is confined to being...
This Practice Note outlines the principles governing the calculation and use of the basic nil rate band ( NRB) and the transferable NRB on death, and flags key practical points on the operation of those calculations. For broader guidance on the NRB, the transferable NRB and the residence NRB ( RNRB) (also called the additional threshold), including how to claim these reliefs and the relevant time limits, see Practice Notes: IHT—nil rate band ( NRB) and transferable NRB and IHT—residence nil rate band. Nil rate band The NRB removes a significant slice of a deceased person’s estate from inheritance tax ( IHT), and in many cases eliminates any IHT liability altogether. The current NRB threshold is £325,000, which produces an IHT saving of £130,000. In the RNRB context, which applies to deaths on or after 6 April 2017, the NRB is sometimes described as the basic NRB. For...
Popular documents
When evaluating a general damages claim, the practitioner ought initially to refer to the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG)...
This Practice Note This Practice Note reviews mechanisms used in settling litigation. A Tomlin order consists of a consent order paired with a schedule. It operates to stay proceedings on terms that have been agreed. The provisions contained in the schedule may remain confidential. This Practice Note describes the scope of confidentiality attaching to the schedule and sets out how it differs from a standard consent order. Sample wording for a Tomlin order is included, alongside links to precedents, as well as guidance on court approval. It also addresses varying, setting aside and enforcing a Tomlin order, including the considerations the court will take into account when handling applications for each. Further guidance is provided on interpreting and applying the relevant provisions of the CPR; however, some courts and divisions impose very specific requirements for both drafting and approval, and for approaching the schedule and confidentiality issues. Accordingly, you must consider the particular rules and court guide provisions in the forum where your claim is proceeding when drawing up the Tomlin order...
Date [ date ] Parties [ name of Landlord ] [ of OR incorporated in England and Wales (company registration number [ number ]) with its registered office at ] [ address ] (Landlord) [ name of Tenant ] [ of OR incorporated in England and Wales (company registration number [ number ]) with its registered office at ] [ address ] (Tenant) [ [ name of Guarantor ] [ of OR incorporated in England and Wales (company registration number [ number ]) with its registered office at ] [ address ] (Guarantor) ] [ [ name of Mortgagee ] [ of OR incorporated in England and Wales (company registration number [ number ]) with its registered office at ] [ address ] (Mortgagee) ] Definitions Within this Deed, the terms below shall be interpreted as follows: [ Annual Rent • the annual sum reserved under the Lease; ] [ Insurance Rent • the Tenant’s share of the Landlord’s costs of insuring the Property (as set out in the Lease); ] Lease • the lease of the Property dated [ date ], entered into between (1) [ the Landlord OR [ name ...
I, [ name ], of [ address ], solemnly and sincerely state that: [ Matters to be verified, set out in numbered paragraphs ] I make this solemn statement in good conscience, believing it to be true, and pursuant to the provisions of the Statutory Declarations Act 1835. DECLARED at [ details ] this [ day ] day of [ month and year ] Before me ................................................................................ [ signature of the person before whom the declaration is made ] A [ commissioner for oaths OR [ solicitor OR [ insert other qualification ] ] authorised to administer oaths ]...
Discover more from LexisNexis
