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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:
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When does a tax lawyer get involved in a bond issue? A tax lawyer is typically brought in only after certain milestones have been passed: the business seeking funding has already chosen to raise finance by issuing a bond the issuer has retained a lead manager (usually a bank or broker) to manage the issue, and the lead manager has 'launched' the bond by appointing, or at least approaching, co-managers to help sell and underwrite the issue The principal exception is where a tax lawyer assists the issuer in weighing different financing routes and their tax implications. This Practice Note concentrates on the central issues that arise once the commitment to proceed with a bond issue has been made. When a tax lawyer does become involved, they may act for the issuer or for the lead manager. In practical terms, the identity of the client is of limited...
What is country-by-country reporting? Country-by-country ( Cb C) reporting obliges large multinational groups to submit an annual return that sets out the principal aspects of their activities, split across the jurisdictions where they operate. For accounting periods beginning on or after 1 April 2023, MNEs within the Cb C regime must also keep further transfer pricing documentation. For more detail, see Practice Note: Transfer pricing—the UK legislation — Transfer pricing documentation and compliance. At Budget 2025, the government confirmed it will proceed with a duty for in-scope multinationals to report, each year, information on cross-border related party transactions for accounting periods beginning after 1 January 2027. Reports will be filed via an ‘ International Controlled Transactions Schedule’ ( ICTS). Technical regulations to bring in the ICTS are expected in spring 2026. For further information, see Finance Bill 2026—reform of UK law in relation to...
From 1 January 2016, banking companies and building societies have had to pay a surcharge on their taxable profits (after certain adjustments), in addition to the main rate of corporation tax and subject to an annual allowance. The surcharge was first set at 8%, before being reduced to 3% from 1 April 2023. Beyond the bank levy, further rules have increased the sector’s tax and compliance burden, with the surcharge adding to: the bank levy the restriction of carried‑forward losses the non‑deductibility of compensation payments Its introduction was, however, linked to a gradual cut in the bank levy’s headline rate. Alongside Autumn Budget 2024, the government released a Corporate Tax Roadmap outlining its plans for corporation tax and other taxes over the current parliament. On the surcharge and the bank levy, it states that the banking sector faces two sector‑specific taxes — the Bank Levy and the Bank...
The sharing of data between HMRC and tax authorities in other territories is a crucial means of helping administrations both run and police their tax systems, and of confronting avoidance and evasion. Over the years, as barriers to global trade have fallen and capital has become ever more mobile, the need for robust information exchange has expanded significantly. The UK has traditionally, indeed historically, supplied tax‑related information on request or on a spontaneous basis, yet in recent years the emphasis has moved increasingly towards routine, automatic reporting of information. The US Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act ( FATCA) acted as a spur by mandating the automatic transmission of details concerning US citizens between foreign (i.e. non‑ US) financial institutions and the tax authorities of the US. The US and the G5 countries (the UK, France, Germany, Italy and Spain) created model Inter‑...
FORTHCOMING CHANGE relating to the UK funds regime : The outcome of the government’s review of the UK funds regime (see News Analyses: Review of the UK funds regime—an analysis and HM Treasury’s review of the UK funds regime—a call for input) includes proposals to keep the tax position of the new long-term asset fund ( LTAF) under ongoing scrutiny. This Practice Note considers the taxation of authorised investment funds ( AIFs). In tax terminology, ‘authorised investment fund’, or ‘ AIF’, is the umbrella term for two fund types: the authorised unit trust ( AUT) and the open-ended investment company ( OEIC). Both AUTs and OEICs are forms of collective investment scheme that are authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority ( FCA). The expression ‘ AIF’, used for these funds, appears in the Authorised Investment Funds ( Tax) Regulations 2006, SI 2006/964, which contain the...
FORTHCOMING CHANGE relating to Co ACS: On 2 April 2024, the government released draft regulations for consultation which, in addition to setting out the tax framework for the new reserved investor fund, introduce modest updates to the tax rules for co-ownership authorised contractual schemes ( Co ACS). These adjustments are intended to ensure the rules function as designed and to deal with matters raised during the reserved investor fund policy consultation. The consultation closes on 14 May 2024. This Practice Note reviews a form of UK authorised investment fund termed an authorised contractual scheme ( ACS). It explains the two distinct legal forms an ACS may adopt and the tax treatment applicable to the funds and their participators (ie investors). The primary emphasis is on direct taxes, with brief coverage of UK transfer taxes and non- UK withholding tax. Both ACS legal forms, and their...
A company can be tax resident in two states—see Practice Note: When a company is UK tax resident— Can a company have multiple residencies for tax purposes? For completeness, that guidance explores the question in detail. There can be drawbacks too at times. While this may carry drawbacks, such an entity might also exploit domestic reliefs available in each country where it is regarded as resident. For instance, a company incorporated in the US but with central management and control in the UK will, in principle, be resident in both the UK and the US (absent a competent authority agreement assigning exclusive residence under the UK/ US double tax treaty, which is unlikely to be secured). Without rules stating otherwise, that company could set its losses against the profits of both a UK tax group and a US...
Autumn Budget 2024 At the Autumn Budget on 30 October 2024, the Labour government confirmed it would scrap the remittance basis of taxation and bring in a residence-based regime, commencing on 6 April 2025. From the same date, inheritance tax ( IHT) will also switch to a residence-based system, supplanting the previous rules tied to an individual’s domicile. As part of the Autumn Budget package, the government published a set of documents, including: a TIIN, ‘ Reforming the taxation of non- UK domiciled individuals’; a technical note outlining the income tax, capital gains tax ( CGT) and IHT changes affecting UK-resident non-domiciliaries; and 103 pages of Draft Finance Bill measures. On 7 November 2024, Finance Bill 2025 ( FB 2025) was published along with explanatory notes, including the draft legislation which was published at Autumn Budget. FB 2025 received Royal Assent on 20 March 2025 and is now enacted as...
Fiscal events for 2026–27 This section brings together content on the fiscal events for 2026–27, beginning with the Spring Forecast on 3 March 2026......
ARCHIVED: This Practice Note has been archived and is not maintained. This Practice Note collates material on the fiscal events throughout the entirety of the tax year 2023–24, including the following: Tax Administration and Maintenance Day ( TAMD), which took place on 27 April 2023 Tax legislation day ( L Day), which occurred on 18 July 2023 Autumn Statement, which was delivered on 22 November 2023 the publication of the Autumn Finance Bill 2023 ( AFB 2023), also known as Finance Bill 2024 and Finance Bill 2023–24, which was published on 29 November 2023 and which received Royal Assent on 22 February 2024 and was enacted as Finance Act 2024 Spring Budget 2024, which took place on 6 March 2024, and the publication of the Spring Finance Bill 2024 ( SFB 2024), also known as Finance ( No 2) Bill 2024 and Finance ( No 2) Bill 2023–24, which was...
ARCHIVED: This Practice Note has been archived and is not maintained. This Practice Note collates material on fiscal developments across the 2020–21 tax year, beginning with the publication of draft provisions for the Finance Bill 2020–21 on 21 July 2020 and continuing through to the Finance Act 2021 ( FA 2021) completing its passage through Parliament. For further information on the annual Budget and Finance Bill process, see Practice Note: The Budget and Finance Bill process. For details of the Finance Act 2021—tracking its journey to Royal Assent and outlining its principal provisions—see Practice Note: Tax— Finance Act 2021—progress through Parliament [ Archived]. Finance Act 2021 The Finance Bill 2021 ( FB 2021)—officially the Finance ( No 2) Bill, as it was the second Finance Bill of the 2019–21 Parliamentary session, and also referred to as the Finance Bill 2020–21—was published on 11 March 2021. FB 2021...
This Practice Note collates material covering fiscal events across the 2019–20 tax year, beginning with publication of draft measures for Finance Bill 2020, moving through the Spring Budget in 2020 (postponed from 2019), and culminating in the Finance Act 2020’s passage through parliament throughout its stages and enactment. For comprehensive details on FA 2020, charting its progress through Parliament to Royal Assent and outlining its key provisions, see: Tax— Finance Bill 2020 tracker. For an in-depth explanation of the annual Budget and Finance Bill process, including the procedural aspects of enacting a Finance Act, see Practice Note: The Budget and Finance Bill process. Finance Act 2020 Finance Bill 2020 ( FB 2020) (also known as Finance Bill 2019–21) was published on 19 March 2020. Alongside the Bill, the government also released several promised consultations as promised. FB 2020 received Royal Assent on 22 July 2020 and has...
ARCHIVED: This Practice Note is archived and not maintained This note brings together commentary on the principal milestones in the 2016–17 Budget and Finance Bill process. For a fuller explanation of the annual Budget and Finance Bill cycle, including the procedural steps for enacting a Finance Act, see: Practice Note: The Budget and Finance Bill process. Finance ( No 2) Act 2017 On 8 September 2017, the government introduced the second Finance Bill of 2017 with accompanying explanatory notes, restoring most measures omitted from the earlier Bill. For further detail, see News Analysis: Publication of second Finance Bill 2017. Earlier, on 13 July 2017, after confirming its plan to legislate for the withdrawn measures, the government issued revised drafting on the corporate interest restriction, hybrid mismatches, the substantial shareholdings exemption, loss reliefs and disguised remuneration. For a comparison of the provisions released on 20 March 2017 with those...
Updated December 2025 Introduction The United Arab Emirates ( UAE) sits at a pivotal juncture between leading Western and Eastern markets. Formed as a constitutional union of seven Emirates, each maintains its own local authority, while overarching governance rests with the Supreme Council and the Council of Ministers. As part of the Gulf Cooperation Council ( GCC), the UAE participates in the Middle East’s sole multi-national common market, aimed at deepening cross-border economic and fiscal cohesion. Investing and trading in the UAE offers a broad spectrum of prospects for investors. This Practice Note highlights principal considerations for overseas organisations entering the UAE and the essential actions to commence operations. It concentrates on establishing in Mainland UAE, the Abu Dhabi Global Market ( ADGM), and the Dubai International Financial Centre ( DIFC). Although these jurisdictions are covered in depth, investors can also assess many...
Practice Note This Practice Note was initially prepared by Christopher Kerr- Smiley, Legal Director at Womble Bond Dickinson, and is now overseen by Lexis+® UK Private Client. Trusts are frequently adopted by private individuals to hold assets, typically to safeguard and manage them for others—most often relatives—though sometimes for the settlor’s own benefit too. Commercial practitioners regularly encounter trusts where one or more parties to a deal they advise on hold property in a trustee role. The legal arrangement created by a trust, however, is not confined to family wealth planning and extends well into commercial practice. Trusts feature across a range of commercial scenarios, including: pension trusts employee benefit trusts unit trusts lending arrangements, for example syndicated loans smaller charities operating through a trust framework See Practice Note: Commercial uses of trusts. The question of how far...
FORTHCOMING CHANGE: On 15 December 2025, the DWP opened a consultation to strengthen trusteeship, governance and administration standards for trust-based pension schemes (closing 6 March 2026). Proposals include centrally set, mandatory accreditation for professional trustees, a statutory definition of “professional trustee”, initiatives to enhance trustee board diversity, a non-public trustee directory overseen by the Pensions Regulator ( TPR), and potential TPR regulatory oversight of pension scheme administrators. This consultation forms part of a wider reform package designed to raise governance as the pensions landscape consolidates into fewer, larger schemes, and also examines measures such as improving board diversity, introducing a statutory trustee directory and intensifying regulatory oversight. Taken together, these moves signal a transition from encouraging accreditation towards a possible compulsory framework for professional trustees. For further information, see Professional trustees, below. THIS PRACTICE NOTE APPLIES TO TRUST- BASED OCCUPATIONAL PENSION...
Introduction Many trusts hold shares as elements of a broader investment portfolio. This Practice Note considers circumstances and examples where trustees possess shares to further another commercial objective. Such trusts fall into two principal types or categories: where the goal is to consolidate management and, potentially, voting powers in the shares while preserving the beneficiaries’ economic entitlements. These arrangements will typically be bare trusts, and trusts designed to retain shares so as to confer benefits on beneficiaries at a later point in time and possibly on a discretionary footing. Such trusts will generally be settlements for tax purposes Voting trusts A voting trust is frequently paired with a shareholders’ agreement, so the structure is part trust and part contract. The trust/contract may operate in a variety of different ways. For example, in Booth v Ellard, a group of family members settled their shares in the...
The concept of being ‘resident in a contracting state’ is key in a double tax treaty ( DTT) because: Double tax treaties apply solely to persons who are resident in one or both contracting states, whether individuals or entities, for the purposes of the treaty. The concept is also employed throughout numerous treaty provisions to allocate taxing rights between the participating states; for instance, dividend articles often stipulate, under the terms of the relevant article, that a dividend paid by a resident of one contracting state to a resident of the other contracting state is taxable exclusively in the latter jurisdiction. Accordingly, when advising a taxpayer about their position under a DTT, it is essential first to ascertain where that taxpayer is resident for the purposes of the treaty, which may not align with the residence attributed under domestic...
Treasury shares A limited company can hold, or transact in, its own shares if the conditions in the Companies Act 2006 ( CA 2006) are satisfied. These shares are kept in treasury and called the company’s treasury shares. Alongside CA 2006, further rules and guidance apply to a listed company or an AIM company. A listed company must have regard to the UK Listing Rules ( UKLRs) and the Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rules ( DTRs). An AIM company must have regard to the AIM Rules for Companies ( AIM Rules); however, these do not specifically cover share buybacks, so AIM Regulation has confirmed that following the UKLRs on buybacks will, in most cases, be best practice. An AIM company is also subject to DTR 5. Both types of company may follow institutional investor guidance. The regime on treasury shares is set out in CA 2006, ss...
As a general rule, pay as you earn ( PAYE) requires employers to withhold tax and employee National Insurance contributions ( NICs) from wages, and these sums cannot normally be reclaimed straight from the worker. This Practice Note considers the limited situations where, by exception, PAYE sums can be sought from the employee rather than the employer. Comparable rules apply for NICs, allowing outstanding contributions to be pursued from the employee instead of the employer in defined cases under the NICs rules. Employer fails to deduct correct amount of tax Where the employer has failed to withhold the proper PAYE tax, HMRC may recover any shortfall from the employee in either of the following situations: the employer demonstrates to HMRC that it exercised reasonable care in operating PAYE and that any mistake arose in good faith; or HMRC believes the employee accepted...
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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 ]...
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