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You are here: BAILII >> Databases >> First-tier Tribunal (Tax) >> Louwman v Revenue and Customs (INCOME TAX) [2025] UKFTT 295 (TC) (07 March 2025) URL: http://www.bailii.org/uk/cases/UKFTT/TC/2025/TC09445.html Cite as: [2025] UKFTT 295 (TC) |
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Appeal reference: TC/2023/08230 |
TAX CHAMBER
Judgment Date: 7 March 2025 |
B e f o r e :
MR JULIAN SIMS
____________________
VALESCA VALENTINA YVETTE LOUWMAN |
Appellant |
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- and - |
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THE COMMISSIONERS FOR HIS MAJESTY'S REVENUE AND CUSTOMS |
Respondents |
____________________
For the Appellant: Ms Amanda Hardy KC and Mr Oliver Marre, of counsel, instructed by Evelyn Partners LLP
For the Respondents: Mr Mark Fell KC, of counsel, instructed by the General Counsel and Solicitor to HM Revenue and Customs
____________________
Crown Copyright ©
INCOME TAX – assessments under the legislation relating to transfers of assets abroad in respect of two types of deemed income, offshore income gains and accrued income profits in respect of foreign securities, which were deemed to arise, after the Appellant was deemed to become UK domiciled, in an offshore settlement settled by the Appellant when she was not UK domiciled or an offshore company in which such a settlement was a shareholder – consideration of whether such deemed income fell within the definition of "protected foreign source income" in Section 721A of the Income Tax Act 2007 (the "ITA"), purposively construed so that it was not chargeable to income tax in the Appellant's hands as it arose – no, because, purposively construed, the definition of "protected foreign source income" applied only to income arising offshore which would have been "relevant foreign income", as defined in Section 989 of the ITA, of the taxpayer if it had been received by the taxpayer and, in this case, the offshore income gains and accrued income profits in respect of foreign securities that were deemed to arise in the offshore settlement or offshore company would not have been "relevant foreign income" had it been received by the Appellant – that being the case, should the definition of "protected foreign source income" be subject to a rectifying construction so as to include that deemed income – consideration of the principles relating to rectifying construction and their application on the facts of this case – no, because it was not clear that Parliament intended the definition of "protected foreign source income" in Section 721A of the ITA to include offshore income gains and accrued income profits in respect of foreign securities and that they had inadvertently excluded those items from the definition – appeal dismissed
Introduction
(1) when we refer to a "Regulation", it will mean a Regulation of the OFTR; and
(2) we will refer to offshore income gains as "OIGs".
the agreed facts
(1) the Appellant is resident in the UK for tax purposes and was so resident in each of the relevant tax years;
(2) the Appellant is domiciled in the Netherlands as a matter of general law but has been deemed to be domiciled in the UK since 6 April 2018;
(3) the Appellant is the sole settlor of four trusts (together, the "Trusts" and, each, a "Trust"), each settled on 7 March 2017. They are:
(a) The Verubino Grantor Trust ("Verubino");
(b) The Vivarais Grantor Trust ("Vivarais");
(c) The Vestus Grantor Trust ("Vestus"); and
(d) The Vernon Court Grantor Trust ("Vernon");
(4) the trustee of each Trust is the Venosta Private Trust Company (the "PTC"), a company incorporated and resident in the Cayman Islands;
(5) each Trust other than Vernon owns, through a non–UK resident nominee company, a one-third interest in a portfolio of assets;
(6) Vernon owns a one–third interest in a non–UK resident company, Hilarion II Limited ("Hilarion") which owns, through a non–UK resident nominee company, units in a non–reporting fund;
(7) the disposals giving rise to OIGs in the tax year ending 5 April 2019 were as follows:
Investment number | Date | Holding | Gain on disposal | Disponor |
1 | 2 November 2018 | Invesco QQQ Trust Series 1 (US46090E1038) | £815,536.97 | Verubino |
2 | 11 June 2018 | iShares Core S&P Small Cap ETF (US4642878049) |
£356,554.49 | Verubino |
3 | 11 June 2018 and 19 June 2018 | iShares Transportation Average ETF (US4642871929) |
£340,070.35 | Verubino |
4 | 7 November 2018 | SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (US78462F1030) |
£1,107,150.29 | Verubino |
5 | 31 December 2018, 28 February 2019 and 31 March 2019 | W.P. Stewart Holding Fund (LU0237485098) |
£24,682.71 | Hilarion |
(8) the disposals giving rise to OIGs in the tax year ending 5 April 2020 were as follows:
Investment number | Date | Holding | Gain on disposal | Disponor |
1 | 9 April 2019 | iShares MDAX DE PART CAP (DE0005933923) |
£184,364.03 | Verubino |
2 | 14 May 2019, 21 August 2019 and 10 February 2020 | W.P. Stewart Holding Fund (LU0237485098) |
£30,511.48 | Hilarion |
(9) the disposals giving rise to OIGs in the tax year ending 5 April 2021 were as follows:
Investment number | Date | Holding | Gain on disposal | Disponor |
1 | 5 June 2020, 25 June 2020, 13 November 2020 and 3 March 2021 | W.P. Stewart Holding Fund (LU0237485098) |
£25,068.97 | Hilarion |
(10) the AIPs were realised by one or more of Verubino, Vivarais and Vestus. The aggregate AIPs realised by those Trusts in the tax year ending 5 April 2019 was £11,162.83 and the aggregate AIPs realised by those Trusts in the tax year ending 5 April 2021 was £32,969.73. In the tax year ending 5 April 2020, the Trusts realised an aggregate accrued income loss of £273.58;
(11) the Appellant disclosed the OIGs in her tax return for each relevant tax year and disclosed the AIPs in her tax return for each of the tax year ending 5 April 2019 and the tax year ending 5 April 2021;
(12) the Respondents opened enquiries into the Appellant's tax returns as follows:
(a) the enquiry into the Appellant's tax return for the tax year ending 5 April 2019 was opened on 22 January 2021;
(b) the enquiry into the Appellant's tax return for the tax year ending 5 April 2020 was opened on 10 January 2022; and
(c) the enquiry into the Appellant's tax return for the tax year ending 5 April 2021 was opened on 8 November 2022;
(13) the Respondents issued the Closure Notices in relation to those enquiries as follows:
(a) the Closure Notice in respect of the enquiry into the Appellant's tax return for the tax year ending 5 April 2019 was issued on 27 April 2023 in the amount of £2,655,157.64;
(b) the Closure Notice in respect of the enquiry into the Appellant's tax return for the tax year ending 5 April 2020 was issued on 27 April 2023 in the amount of £214,875.51; and
(c) the Closure Notice in respect of the enquiry into the Appellant's tax return for the tax year ending 5 April 2021 was issued on 27 April 2023 in the amount of £58,038.70.
The amendments made by the Closure Notices related exclusively to the OIGs and AIPs referred to above;
(14) the Appellant appealed against the Closure Notices by letter dated 23 May 2023; and
(15) the Respondents acknowledged receipt of the Appellant's appeal on 30 May 2023 and agreed to the postponement of the amounts set out in the Closure Notices.
the background to the dispute
(1) Section 720 of the ITA was in point in relation to an individual who was not domiciled in the UK and was subject to the remittance basis of tax pursuant to Sections 809B, 809D or 809E of the ITA (a "non–UK domicile"); and
(2) the income arising to the person outside the UK would have been "relevant foreign income", as defined in Section 989 of the ITA, if it had been received by the non–UK domicile,
then the income in question was treated as "relevant foreign income" (as so defined) of the non–UK domicile. A significant consequence of this was that the income in question was not subject to tax in the hands of the non–UK domicile as it arose but was instead subject to tax only if and when it was remitted. There were provisions in the UK tax legislation – Regulation 19, Section 670A of the ITA and Section 830(4) of the ITTOIA – which expressly provided that both OIGs and AIPs were "relevant foreign income" for a non–UK domicile. The UK tax legislation contained no equivalent express provisions in relation to an individual who was not a non–UK domicile (a "UK domicile").
the relevant legislation
(1) Section 989 of the ITA provided as follows:
""relevant foreign income" has the meaning given by section 830(1) to (3) of [the ITTOIA] but also includes, for any purpose mentioned in any provision listed in section 830(4) of that Act, income treated as relevant foreign income for that purpose by that provision"; and
(2) Section 830 of the ITTOIA provided, so far as relevant, as follows:
"(1) In this Act "relevant foreign income" means income which –
(a) arises from a source outside the United Kingdom, and
(b) is chargeable under any of the provisions specified in subsection (2) (or would be so chargeable if section 832 did not apply to it).
(2) The provisions are –
…(o) Chapter 8 of Part 5 (income not otherwise charged).
(3) But "relevant foreign income" does not include income chargeable as a result of—
…
(b) section 517C or 517E of ITA 2007 (profits on certain disposals concerned with land in the United Kingdom treated as trading profits)….
(4) For the treatment of other income as relevant foreign income, see—
…
(aa) regulation 19 of the [OFTR], …
(h) section 670A of ITA 2007 (accrued income profits), …"
issues
(1) whether the OIGs and AIPs are "protected foreign source income" within the meaning of Section 721A of the ITA (properly construed and in the light of Parliament's intentions) ("Issue One"); and
(2) whether, if the OIGs and the AIPs are not "protected foreign source income" within the meaning of Section 721A of the ITA, we should rectify Section 721A of the ITA ("Issue Two").
discussion
issue one
Principles of statutory construction
(1) the task of a court in construing legislation is to give effect to Parliament's intentions in enacting that legislation;
(2) in so doing, the court is seeking the meaning of the words that Parliament used – see Lord Hodge DPSC in R (on the application of O (a minor, by her litigation friend AO)) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2022] UKSC 3 ("Re O") at paragraph [29];
(3) the relevant provision "should be read in the context of the statute as a whole, and the statute as a whole should be read in the historical context of the situation which led to its enactment" – see Lord Bingham in R (Quintavalle) v Secretary of State for Health [2003] 2 AC 687 at paragraph [8], Lord Briggs and Lord Leggatt JJSC in Hurstwood Properties Ltd v Rossendale Borough Council [2021] UKSC 16 at paragraph [10] and Lord Hodge DPSC in Re O at paragraph [29];
(4) there is an important constitutional reason for having regard primarily to the statutory context. As Lord Nicholls explained in R v Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions, ex parte Spath Holme Ltd [2001] 2 AC 349 ("Spath Holme") at 397F: "Citizens, with the assistance of their advisers, are intended to be able to understand parliamentary enactments, so that they can regulate their conduct accordingly. They should be able to rely upon what they read in an Act of Parliament";
(5) the intention of Parliament is an objective concept and not a subjective one. The phrase is a shorthand reference to the intention which the court reasonably imputes to Parliament in respect of the language used and not the subjective intention of a minister or other persons who promoted the legislation, the draftsman or individual members, or even the majority of individual members, of either House – see Lord Hodge DPSC in Re O at paragraph [31] citing Lord Nicholls in Spath Holme at 396G and H;
(6) similarly, the subjective intentions and understandings of the executive and of particular government departments are irrelevant because it would be wholly inconsistent with the transparent and open democratic process pursuant to which Parliament enacts legislation to take into account such matters – see Attorney General for England and Wales v Counsel General for Wales [2014] UKSC 43 at paragraphs [36] to [39] and Bogdanic v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2014] EWHC 2872 (QB) at paragraph [13];
(7) given the above, external aids to interpretation must therefore necessarily play a secondary role. As regards those external aids:
(a) consultations which preceded the enactment of legislation may disclose the background to the enactment of the legislation and assist the court to identify not only the mischief which it addresses but also the purpose of the legislation, thereby assisting a purposive interpretation of the provision – see Re O at paragraph [30] and Belhaj v Director of Public Prosecutions [2018] UKSC 33 ("Belhaj") at paragraphs [22] and [53];
(b) explanatory notes to a bill can be considered as part of the contextual setting to an Act in order to give it a purposive interpretation – see Belhaj at paragraph [53] – and the same principles apply to the explanatory notes prepared by the Tax Law Rewrite Project when interpreting the modern UK tax code – see R (Derry) v The Commissioners for Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs [2019] UKSC 19 ("Derry") at paragraphs [7], [38] and [86];
(c) "the context disclosed by such materials is relevant to assist the court to ascertain the meaning of the statute, whether or not there is ambiguity and uncertainty, and indeed may reveal ambiguity and uncertainty: Bennion, Bailey and Norbury on Statutory Interpretation, 8th ed (2020) para 11.2. But none of these external aids displace the meanings conveyed by the words of a statute that, after consideration of that context, are clear and unambiguous and which do not produce absurdity" – see Lord Hodge DPSC in Re O at paragraph [30];
(d) statements made by a Government minister may be used to determine the meaning of a statutory provision only if the three conditions set out by Lord Browne–Wilkinson in Pepper v Hart [1993] AC 593 ("Pepper") at 640 are met. Those are:
"(i) that the legislative provision must be ambiguous, obscure or, on a conventional interpretation, lead to absurdity;
(ii) that the material must be or include one or more statements by a minister or other promoter of the Bill; and
(iii) the statement must be clear and unequivocal on the point of interpretation which the court is considering"
see Lord Hodge DPSC in Re O at paragraph [32];
(8) in relation to the application of deeming provisions, in The Commissioners for His Majesty's Revenue and Customs v Vermilion Holdings [2023] UKSC 37 ("Vermilion") at paragraph [23], Lord Hodge DPSC repeated the guidance given by Lord Briggs JSC in The Commissioners for Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs v Fowler [2020] UKSC 22 ("Fowler") at paragraph [27] to the following effect:
"(1) The extent of the fiction created by a deeming provision is primarily a matter of construction of the statute in which it appears.
(2) For that purpose the court should ascertain, if it can, the purposes for which and the persons between whom the statutory fiction is to be resorted to, and then apply the deeming provision that far, but not where it would produce effects clearly outside those purposes.
(3) But those purposes may be difficult to ascertain, and Parliament may not find it easy to prescribe with precision the intended limits of the artificial assumption which the deeming provision requires to be made.
(4) A deeming provision should not be applied so far as to produce unjust, absurd or anomalous results, unless the court is compelled to do so by clear language.
(5) But the court should not shrink from applying the fiction created by the deeming provision to the consequences which would inevitably flow from the fiction being real…"
Similar views were expressed by Lord Lowry in Marshall v Kerr [1995] 1 AC 148 at 166H et seq.; and
(9) in determining how far to take a deeming provision, it is instructive to look at the overall pattern and history of the legislation in which that deeming is to be found – see Lord Scott in R v Dimsey [2001] UKHL 46 at paragraphs [42] to [51] ("Dimsey"). In Dimsey, the House of Lords rejected the proposition that a tax avoidance provision in an Act which specified that the income of a transferee was deemed to be the taxable income of the transferor should be interpreted as saying that the relevant income could not also be the income of the transferee. This was because other deeming provisions in the same Act which were also intended to combat tax avoidance specified expressly that income which was deemed to be the income of one person was not to be treated as the income of any other person.
Legislative history – OIGs
(1) OIGs were first introduced by the Finance Act 1984 (the "FA 1984"). Section 96(1) of the FA 1984 provided that, where an OIG arose, "it was to be treated for all the purposes of the Tax Acts …as constituting profits or gains chargeable to tax under Case VI of Schedule D". At that time:
(a) the income tax schedules were located in Sections 108 and 109 of the Income and Corporation Taxes Act 1970 (the "ICTA 1970");
(b) Schedule D Case VI covered tax in respect of profits or gains not falling under any other Case of Schedule D or under Schedules A, B, C or E;
(c) income arising from securities out of the UK was taxable under Schedule D Case IV and income arising from possessions out of the UK was taxable under Schedule D Case V; and
(d) as a result of OIGs' falling within Schedule D Case VI, losses arising under Schedule D Case VI could be set off against OIGs under Section 176 of the ICTA 1970.
Section 96(5) of the FA 1984 provided that OIGs arising to an individual who did not have a UK domicile were to be taxed on a remittance basis – in the same way as capital gains arising to such a person – under Section 14 of the Capital Gains Tax Act 1979 (the "CGTA");
(2) the ICTA 1970 and the FA 1984 were subsequently consolidated in the Income and Corporation Taxes Act 1988 (the "ICTA 1988"). Under the ICTA 1988:
(a) OIGs were subject to income tax under Schedule D Case VI pursuant to Section 761(1) of the ICTA 1988;
(b) the income tax schedules, which were in Sections 15 to 20 of the ICTA 1988, were worded in the same way as the equivalent ICTA 1970 provisions;
(c) Section 761(5) of the ICTA 1988 provided that individuals who did not have a UK domicile were to be taxed on a remittance basis, pursuant to Section 14 of the CGTA (and, from 1992, pursuant to Section 12 of the Taxation of Chargeable Gains Act 1992 (the "TCGA")); and
(d) as a result of OIGs' falling within Schedule D Case VI, losses arising under Schedule D Case VI could be set off against OIGs under Section 392 of the ICTA 1988.
In short, there was no meaningful change in the treatment of OIGs as a result of the consolidating legislation;
(3) as a result of the Tax Law Rewrite Project, the income tax legislation was consolidated in two stages – first in 2005 in the form of the ITTOIA and then in 2007 in the form of the ITA;
(4) upon the enactment of the ITTOIA:
(a) the schedular system of income tax was abolished;
(b) Schedule D Case VI was replaced by Chapter 8, a chapter designed to tax income not otherwise charged to income tax. To that end, the chapter contained a charging provision – namely, Section 687 of the ITTOIA ("Section 687") – which provided for income tax to be charged on "income from any source that is not charged to income tax under or as a result of any other provision of this Act or any other Act";
(c) Section 687 was the only charging provision within Chapter 8. However, the chapter also contained Section 688 of the ITTOIA (specifying that tax was to be charged under the chapter on the amount of income arising in the tax year) and Section 689 of the ITTOIA (which specified that the person liable for the tax was the person receiving or entitled to the income);
(d) Schedule D Case IV and Schedule D Case V were replaced by Part 8 of the ITTOIA. That part introduced the concept of "relevant foreign income" and set out:
(i) the rules applicable to individuals who were not domiciled in the UK and made a claim for their "relevant foreign income" to be subject to tax on a remittance basis;
(ii) certain deductions in calculating "relevant foreign income" where that basis did not apply; and
(iii) relief where an individual was prevented from transferring income to the UK
- see Section 829 of the ITTOIA;
(e) OIGs remained subject to tax under Section 761(1) of the ICTA 1988 but that section was amended in order to remove the reference to Schedule D Case VI in the case of income tax so that the charge to income tax was now under Section 761(1)(b)(i) of the ICTA 1988. Section 761(5) of the ICTA continued to apply as mentioned in paragraph 23(2)(c) above;
(f) Section 830 of the ITTOIA defined "relevant foreign income" by reference to:
(i) income arising from a non–UK source chargeable under one of the provisions listed in Section 830(2) of the ITTOIA but excluding income chargeable under Section 844 of the ITTOIA (unremittable income); and
(ii) "other income" treated as "relevant foreign income" under one of the provisions listed in Section 830(4) of the ITTOIA.
The charge to tax under Section 761(1)(b)(i) of the ICTA 1988 was not mentioned in either Section 830(2) or Section 830(4) of the ITTOIA;
(g) loss relief against OIGs was preserved by the inclusion in Section 392 of the ICTA 1988 of a reference to income falling within any of the provisions in a new Section 836B of the ICTA 1988, which included a reference in Part 1 of the table in Section 836B(2) of the ICTA 1988 to income arising under Section 761(1)(b)(i) of the ICTA 1988; and
(h) a new Section 827A of the ICTA 1988 was inserted which expressly acknowledged that certain amounts chargeable to income tax under the provisions specified in Parts 1 and 3 of the table in Section 836B of the ICTA 1988 (which included Section 761(1)(b)(i) of the ICTA 1988) might not have a source;
(5) upon the enactment of the ITA:
(a) Section 1016 of the ITA replaced Section 836B of the ICTA 1988. It:
(i) included a reference to Chapter 8 in Part 1 of the table in Section 1016(2) of the ITA;
(ii) included a reference to Section 761(1)(b)(i) of the ICTA 1988 in Part 3 of the table in Section 1016(2) of the ITA; and
(iii) provided in Section 1016(3) of the ITA that any reference to a provision in Part 1 of the table did "not include that provision so far as relating to relevant foreign income";
(b) Section 1015 of the ITA contained an equivalent acknowledgement to the one in Section 827A of the ICTA – which is to say an acknowledgement to the effect that certain amounts chargeable to income tax under the provisions specified in Parts 2 and 3 of the table in Section 1016(2) of the ITA (which included Section 761(1)(b)(i) of the ICTA 1988) might not have a source; and
(c) the loss provisions in Section 392 of the ICTA 1988 were re–enacted in Section 152 of the ITA. This provided that losses arising from transactions falling within one of the provisions specified in Section 1016 of the ITA could be set off against income arising from any such transactions. Since Section 761(1)(b)(i) of the ICTA 1988 was one of the provisions so specified, this meant that the relevant losses could be set off against OIGs although Section 152(8) of the ITA provided that losses arising from the disposal of interests in offshore funds could not be set off under the section;
(6) in 2008, as a result of changes to the remittance basis made in a new Chapter A1 of Part 14 to the ITA:
(a) Section 761(5) of the ICTA 1988, which, as noted in paragraph 23(2)(c) above, provided for Section 12 of the TCGA to apply to individuals who did not have a UK domicile, was repealed;
(b) Section 762ZB(2) of the ICTA 1988, which provided that income treated as arising under Section 761(1) of the ICTA 1988 to a non–UK domicile was to be treated as "relevant foreign income" of the non–UK domicile, was inserted; and
(c) that section was added to the list in Section 830(4) of the ITTOIA of enactments giving rise to "other income" which was "relevant foreign income";
(7) in 2009, following the enactment of Sections 41, 42 and 42A of the FA 2008, the OIGs legislation was moved from the ICTA 1988 to the OFTR. The key provisions in the OFTR so far as the present appeal is concerned are:
(a) Regulation 17, which states that a charge to tax arises if there is an OIG;
(b) Regulation 18, which states that:
(i) the OIG is to be treated for all purposes of the Tax Acts as income which arises at the time of the disposal to the person making the disposal;
(ii) the tax is charged on the person making the disposal (or treated as making the disposal); and
(iii) "in the case of a person chargeable to income tax, tax is charged under Chapter 8 …. (miscellaneous income: income not otherwise charged) for the year of assessment in which the disposal is made, but sections 688(1) and 689 of [the ITTOIA] (income charged and person liable) do not apply" – see Regulation 18(3));
(c) Regulation 19, which replaced Section 762ZB(2) of the ICTA 1988 and states that income which is treated as arising under Regulation 17 to a non–UK domicile is to be treated as "relevant foreign income" of the non–UK domicile; and
(d) Regulation 21(2), which states that:
(i) Chapter 2 of Part 13 of the ITA applies in relation to an OIG arising to a person resident or domiciled outside the UK as if the OIG were income becoming payable to that person; and
(ii) income treated as so arising under that chapter is to be regarded as "relevant foreign income" of a non–UK domicile to whom the income is deemed to arise under Section 720 of the ITA;
(8) upon the enactment of the OFTR:
(a) the reference in Section 830(4) of the ITTOIA to Section 762ZB(2) of the ICTA 1988 was replaced by a reference to Regulation 19; and
(b) the reference in Part 3 of the table in Section 1016(2) of the ITA to Section 761(1)(b)(i) of the ICTA 1988 was replaced by a reference to Regulation 17;
(9) upon the enactment of the Finance Act 2015 (the "FA 2015"), Section 152 of the ITA was amended so as to prevent losses from being set off against income arising pursuant to Regulation 17 – see Section 152(2A) of the ITA; and
(10) the Finance Act 2016 (the "FA 2016") inserted a new Part 9A into the ITA, which included provisions imposing income tax on disposals of land in the UK and disposals of property deriving at least 50% of its value from land in the UK – see Sections 517C and 517E of the ITA. A reference to those provisions was inserted by Section 79(11) of the FA 2016 into Section 830(3) of the ITTOIA so that they were expressly stated to be provisions giving rise to income which was not "relevant foreign income".
Common ground – OIGs
(1) in order for income arising in an offshore trust or company to be PFSI in relation to an individual for the purposes of Section 720 of the ITA, that income needs to be such that it would have been "relevant foreign income" if it had instead arisen to the individual in question – see Sections 721A(3)(a) and 721A(4)(a) of the ITA;
(2) in order for that to be the case, unless the income in question falls within one of the categories of "other income" comprising "relevant foreign income" mentioned in Section 830(4) of the ITTOIA:
(a) the income must be treated as having arisen from a source; and
(b) that source must be outside the UK
- see Sections 830(1) and 830(2) of the ITTOIA;
(3) it is in general no longer necessary for income to have a source before it can be subject to income tax. In Walker v Centaur Clothes Group Ltd [2000] UKHL 23 ("Walker"), Lord Hoffmann (with whom the other Law Lords agreed) held at 803D to 803G that it was no longer the case that income within the charge to tax as income was restricted to income derived from a source. As Park J later remarked in Pumahaven v Williams [2002] EWHC 2237 (Ch) ("Pumahaven") at paragraphs [19] to [21], "the source doctrine is…subject to any detailed statutory provisions to the contrary" and "there are several statutory exceptions to the source doctrine". Similar views were expressed by Henderson LJ in Moorthy v The Commissioners for Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs [2018] EWCA Civ 847 ("Moorthy") at paragraph [35]. Consistent with those views, the schedular system of income tax was abolished as part of the Tax Law Rewrite Project; and
(4) however, it is implicit in the wording of Section 687 that, in order for income to be taxable under that section, it necessarily must have a source. This is because the section refers explicitly to a source in its terms and it was held by the Court of Appeal in The Commissioners for His Majesty's Revenue and Customs v BlueCrest Capital Management LP and others [2023] EWCA Civ 1481 ("BlueCrest") that income which is taxable under that provision "must arise from an identifiable source in the relevant tax year" – see Sir Launcelot Henderson (with whom Lewison and Falk LJJ agreed) at paragraph [102]. Previously, the Upper Tribunal in Kerrison v The Commissioners for Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs [2019] UKUT 0008 (TCC) ("Kerrison") had evidently been of the same view – see Kerrison at paragraph [70] – although they had left the point open because it was not necessary for them to decide it on the facts in that case.
The Appellant's submissions – OIGs
(1) they would have been "relevant foreign income" for the Appellant if they had instead arisen to the Appellant; and
(2) they were therefore PFSI, as defined in Sections 721A(3)(a) and 721A(4)(a) of the ITA, for the purposes of determining the Appellant's liability to income tax in respect of the OIGs under Section 720 of the ITA.
(1) Regulation 17 and Regulation 18(3) made it clear that the charge to income tax on OIGs fell within Chapter 8;
(2) the only charging provision in Chapter 8 was Section 687;
(3) since OIGs were charged to income tax under Section 687, they must be deemed to have a source as noted in BlueCrest and Kerrison;
(4) that source had to be a foreign source because, by definition, OIGs arose as a result of the realisation of gains on interests in offshore funds;
(5) it followed that, if the OIGs had arisen to the Appellant, they would have fallen within Section 830(1) of the ITTOIA – by virtue of the reference, in Section 830(2) of the ITTOIA, to Chapter 8;
(6) there was no reference to Chapter 8 or OIGs in the exclusions set out in Section 830(3) of the ITTOIA; and
(7) therefore, if the OIGs had arisen to the Appellant, they would have been "relevant foreign income" falling within Section 830 of the ITTOIA and Section 989 of the ITA in the hands of the Appellant.
(1) it was clear that other receipts of a capital nature which gave rise to deemed income were capable of amounting to "relevant foreign income" falling within the ambit of Section 830(1) of the ITTOIA by virtue of Section 830(2) of the ITTOIA and therefore as having a foreign source. For example, prior to its repeal, Chapter 13 of Part 4 of the ITTOIA, which imposed tax on the proceeds of selling foreign dividend coupons, had been included in Section 830(2) of the ITTOIA; and
(2) although the OFTR did not contain an equivalent to Section 428(3) of the ITTOIA – which deemed profits arising on the disposal of deeply–discounted foreign securities to arise from a source outside the UK – or Section 658(2) of the ITTOIA – which deemed estate income arising from a foreign estate to arise from a source outside the UK – those were cases where Parliament wished to put the foreign source of the relevant income beyond doubt. The absence of any such provision in relation to OIGs did not mean that OIGs did not have a foreign source.
(1) when the deemed domicile rules were introduced in 2017, the intention of Parliament was that an individual who had settled a non–UK settlement while he or she was a non–UK domicile and who was deemed to become a UK domicile as a result of the changes should continue to be outside the charge to tax on the foreign income and gains of the relevant non–UK settlement and any non–UK company beneath that settlement until those income and gains were paid out of the offshore structure;
(2) to that end, Parliament had made provision in the income tax context in Section 721A of the ITTOIA for PFSI to be outside the scope of income tax on an arising basis and an equivalent provision in the capital gains tax context in paragraph 5A of Schedule 5 to the TCGA;
(3) the background to the enactment of the F (No 2) A 2017 demonstrated this intention very clearly. For instance:
(a) in July 2015, HM Treasury had published a technical paper which said as follows:
"Non doms who have set up an offshore trust before they become deemed domiciled here under the 15 year rule will not be taxed on trust income and gains that are retained in the trust and such excluded property trusts will have the same IHT treatment as at present (subject to the announcement made at Budget 2015 on UK residential property held through offshore companies and similar vehicles). However, such long term residents will, from April 2017 be taxed on any benefits, capital or income received from any trusts on a worldwide basis. The government will consult on the necessary changes to the transfer of assets regime and Capital Gains Tax trust provisions. The government recognises that this is a significant change to the current rules and that changes to trust taxation are complex and will need to be considered carefully";
(b) the consultation document of 30 September 2015 (updated on 19 August 2016) which followed that technical paper said as follows:
"3.2 Treatment of offshore trusts
The government said at the outset of these reforms that it intended there to be some protection for those individuals who had set up offshore trusts before they became deemed-domiciled. Wealthy families who have set up a trust of some sort, possibly many years ago and while they were not living in or considering a move to the UK, will find it very punitive and administratively burdensome to have to recreate sufficient history of the transactions that may have taken place in the trust that would be necessary if the settlor were to be taxed on income and gains in the same way as an individual who is UK domiciled.
The government thinks it is fair to ask any individual who becomes deemed- domiciled in the UK to pay tax on benefits they receive from any offshore trust and any underlying entities.
However, the government does not intend that non–domiciliaries who become deemed-UK domiciled should have to pay UK tax on income and gains in offshore structures which were set up before they became deemed–domiciled simply because the individual was the settlor of the trust or was considered a transferor under the Transfer of Assets Abroad legislation. As a part of these reforms, the government will ensure that any individual who becomes deemed – UK domiciled will continue to be protected from UK tax on offshore trusts that they have settled while neither they nor their spouse or children receive any benefit from the trust.
The government intends to base the new rules on the taxable value of benefits received by the deemed domiciled individual without reference to the income and gains arising in the offshore structure";
(c) the consultation outcome document of December 2016 said as follows:
"2.3.3
Under the government's alternative approach, foreign income arising in overseas trusts (or any underlying corporate structure) set up by a non-dom will not be taxed on the settlor on an arising basis when the individual becomes deemed domiciled under the 15/20 test. The existing settlor charges under both the settlements legislation and Transfer of Assets Abroad legislation will be dis- applied to such income both where the settlor is deemed domiciled and where the settlor remains foreign domiciled for tax purposes. There will be no changes to the taxation of foreign income for overseas trusts set up by UK domiciled settlors.
Instead, such foreign income will be taxed on the foreign domiciled or deemed domiciled settlor only by reference to the benefits received by the settlor or close family members and where those benefits are not already subject to income tax in the hands of the recipient. The trust provisions will still remain in place even after a benefit has been received so tax is paid on amounts paid out of the trust, but amounts that remain in the trust will not be taxable. The settlor will be taxed on the remittance basis if they are non-domiciled and a remittance basis user, or on benefits received worldwide if they are deemed domiciled.
The settlor charges under the transfer of assets legislation will be dis-applied at the trust level and in respect of any underlying corporate structure without the need for the underlying company to pay dividends up to the trust. The settlor charges under the settlements legislation will not need to be dis-applied to foreign income of any corporate structure underlying the settlement, because the settlements legislation only applies to income arising to a settlement.
The trust provisions will not apply to any transferor who has become deemed domiciled and owns a non-resident company which is not held in trust. In these circumstances section 720 to 730 ITA 2007 will apply to the settlor as to a UK domiciled transferor. The remittance basis will continue to apply as at present to a foreign domiciled transferor in relation to corporate income where there is no trust structure."; and
(d) at the Public Bill Committee, Fourth Sitting, 19 October 2017, Mel Stride MP for the Government explained the purpose of the trust protections as follows:
"The provisions outlined in schedule 8 relate to trusts that were created before an individual became deemed domiciled under the new rules. As I am sure members of the Committee will appreciate, many non-doms will have set up family structures in their home country long before they ever considered moving to the UK. That is an important point. The Government believe that it would be unreasonable to expect individuals in such circumstances to pay UK tax on all the money in such a structure as it arose. The provisions therefore protect such trusts from unintended consequences and ensure that the UK remains an attractive place for those individuals to live and work.
Let me be clear: even with those protections in place, those non-doms who do become deemed UK-domiciled will only be protected on income and gains that remain inside the trust. Any moneys withdrawn, or benefits provided, will lead to a tax charge.
The Government recognise that non-doms make an important contribution to the UK's economy. In terms of tax alone, as I have already stated, they contribute more than £9 billion to the Exchequer per year. It is therefore vital that these changes are not introduced in a way that would drive non-doms out of the UK altogether";
(4) thus, applying the purposive approach to statutory construction which both parties agreed should be the basis on which to construe the legislation, it could be seen that all "relevant foreign income", whether actual or deemed, was intended to fall within the definition of PFSI; and
(5) moreover, it was clear that OIGs were "relevant foreign income" for non–UK domiciles immediately before the enactment of the F (No 2) A 2017 – even if for no other reason than by virtue of Regulation 19 – and there was no indication in the materials described above that Parliament intended to change the status of OIGs arising in non–UK settlements and non–UK companies beneath those settlements when it enacted the F (No 2) A 2017. Indeed, the legislation in question had been enacted for the very purpose of protecting individuals such as the Appellant who were deemed to become UK domiciles by virtue of the legislation in question.
Conclusion – OIGs
Introduction
(1) OIGs are not, and never have been, "relevant foreign income" as defined in Section 830 of the ITTOIA and Section 989 of the ITA for anyone apart from an individual with a non–UK domicile who is subject to the remittance basis. Therefore, had the OIGs in this case arisen to the Appellant, an individual who was a UK domicile when the OIGs arose, they would not have been "relevant foreign income"; and
(2) consequently, the OIGs in this case are not capable of constituting PFSI so far as the Appellant is concerned.
The OIGs as "relevant foreign income" for UK domiciles
No source
(1) OIGs are capital sums which are not actual income but are instead deemed to be income. As such, they are an example of a type of income which does not have a source in the traditional sense. In Walker at paragraph 803F, Lord Hoffmann gave, as a specific example of income which does not have a source, "the receipt of a capital sum from a particular kind of transaction, which is deemed to be taxable income received in that year of assessment…". The same point was made in the explanatory notes to the ITTOIA at paragraphs 1479, 1480, 2254, 3084 and 3085 and it is expressly acknowledged in Section 577(4) of the ITTOIA that not all items of income falling within Part 5 of the ITTOIA – of which Chapter 8 forms part – have a source;
(2) having said that, if Regulation 18(3) is properly to be construed as making OIGs subject to tax under Section 687, then a necessary consequence of that construction, applying the principles of statutory construction described in paragraph 20 above, and particularly the principles applicable to deeming described in Fowler and Vermilion, is that OIGs must be deemed to have a source because, as noted in BlueCrest and Kerrison, income cannot be taxable under Section 687 unless it has a source. If OIGs were to be subject to tax under Section 687, and yet not have a source, then the legislative machinery would break down;
(3) however, even before taking into account the legislative history of OIGs described in paragraph 23 above, which we analyse in paragraph 55 below, it is apparent that Regulation 18(3) does no such thing. Instead, it brings OIGs within the charge to tax under Chapter 8 and not Section 687. The regulation refers expressly to Chapter 8 and not to Section 687 and we consider that to be perfectly deliberate and significant. For the reasons which follow, we do not agree with Ms Hardy that the mere fact that Section 687 is the only charging provision in Chapter 8 means that Regulation 18(3) should be read as bringing OIGs within the charge to tax under Section 687;
(4) nor do we agree with Ms Hardy that treating OIGs as being taxable in that way defeats the purpose of the deeming in Section 18(3). On the contrary, we think that it is entirely consistent with that deeming and does not produce an unjust or anomalous result. Instead, for reasons on which we will elaborate, we think that deeming the charge to arise under Section 687 would produce unjust and anomalous results and would therefore be contrary to the principles outlined in Fowler and Vermilion;
(5) the intended effect of Regulation 18(3) in our view is simply to bring OIGs within the charge to income tax as items of miscellaneous income in Chapter 8. In other words, Regulation 18(3) sits alongside, and performs an equivalent role to, Section 687 as a provision which brings amounts into charge under that chapter.
Indeed, the language in Section 687 itself supports that view. Section 687 applies only to "income …that is not chargeable to income tax under or as a result of any other provision of this Act or any other Act". OIGs are subject to income tax as a result of Sections 41(1) and 42 of the FA 2008, the provisions which enabled the enactment of Regulation 17 and Regulation 18(3). As a result, they are already subject to tax under Chapter 8 as a result of another Act. Section 687 is therefore precluded from applying.
It is a matter of speculation as to why Parliament felt that it was necessary to bring the charge in respect of OIGs within the ambit of Chapter 8, given that Regulation 18(3) could have imposed a self–standing charge to income tax without recourse to any part of the ITTOIA but we think that the most likely explanation is one that was proffered by Mr Fell, which is that bringing the charge within Chapter 8 fitted the charge within the taxonomy of the tax legislation as a whole. Although the Tax Law Rewrite Project removed the schedular system of income taxation, the ITTOIA and the ITA still bear its hallmarks and it would be entirely understandable that Parliament might have wished to include miscellaneous charges to income tax, such as the charge in respect of OIGs, within Chapter 8 by way of cross–reference as opposed to leaving them as self–standing charges outside that primary legislation.
That view is supported by the fact that a similar approach was adopted in relation to corporation tax. For corporation taxpayers, Regulation 18(4) brings OIGs within the charge to corporation tax under Chapter 8 of Part 10 of the Corporation Tax Act 2009 (the "CTA 2009"), the chapter which applies to income not otherwise chargeable. Again, the charge could have been left in the OFTR as a self–standing charge to corporation tax but Parliament took steps to bring the charge within the ambit of the taxonomy of the Corporation Tax Acts as a whole. Moreover, when Regulation 18(3) is read in conjunction with Regulation 18(4), it becomes clear that the reference to Chapter 8 in Regulation 18(3) is perfectly deliberate. In both cases, the relevant regulation refers to a chapter and part of the primary consolidated legislation and not a specific section number.
In passing, we would note that the charging provision within Chapter 8 of Part 10 of the CTA 2009 – Section 979 of the CTA 2009 – does not refer to source.
Location of source
"notwithstanding the tax treatment accorded by [Section 761 of the ICTA 1988], the disposal of a material interest is, in essence, a disposal of a capital asset. Whilst [Section 761] deems the gain arising on disposal to be income for the purposes of the Tax Acts it does not recharacterise the source of the deemed income. The deemed income cannot be said to be derived from the share or security in the generally understood sense of "flowing from" the holding of the share or security. It is therefore not eligible income for the purpose of [Section 842 of the ICTA 1988] as it arises from disposal of an asset." (Emphasis added).
(1) by definition, OIGs arise on the disposal of interests in offshore funds and therefore the rights under those interests are enforceable outside the UK;
(2) the fact that Regulation 19 deems OIGs to be "relevant foreign income" for non–UK domiciles suggests that Parliament, when it enacted that provision, considered that OIGs should be treated as if they had a foreign source for those taxpayers. Otherwise, such taxpayers would have been subject to tax in respect of OIGs on an arising basis;
(3) a similar point may be made in relation to Regulation 21(2), which deems income arising under Chapter 2 of Part 13 of the ITA in relation to OIGs to be "relevant foreign income" in the case of a non–UK domicile; and
(4) in this regard, it is noteworthy that, whereas Section 670A of the ITA is expressed to apply only to accrued income profits arising as a result of the transfer of "foreign securities" – which is to say, securities the income on which would be "relevant foreign income" – and a similar approach is evident in Sections 428 and 658 of the ITTOIA – each of which distinguishes between profits on securities outside the UK and other profits of the relevant type – Regulations 19 and 21 contain no such limitation. It is simply assumed that OIGs are foreign source income.
(1) first, it would make the location of the source of OIGs entirely arbitrary, as it would depend on where the disponor happened to be when the decision to make the disposal giving rise to the OIGs in question was taken. That, in turn, would mean that some OIGs arose abroad and some OIGs arose in the UK without any indication in the legislation of a distinction between them;
(2) secondly, it would be inconsistent with the clear understanding which is implicit in Regulations 19 and 21(2), as referred to in paragraphs 46(2) and 46(3) above, to the effect that OIGs always have a foreign source. After all, many OIGs are realised as a result of decisions taken in the UK. If that meant that those OIGs had a UK source, why would they not be subject to tax in the hands of non–UK domiciles in the same way as other UK source income, which is to say on an arising basis? The very fact that the remittance basis is stated to apply to OIGs realised by non–UK domiciles is indicative of the fact that OIGs have always been considered by Parliament to have a foreign source; and
(3) finally, in the specific context of the PFSI definition, which is based on a hypothetical scenario and not the circumstances of the actual disposal that has given rise to the OIGs in question – which is to say, would the OIGs in question have been "relevant foreign income" in the hands of the individual who is being assessed under Section 720 of the ITA – the answer cannot depend on where the hypothetical decision to make the disposal that would have given rise to the OIGs for the individual would have been taken by the individual in question. The mere fact that the individual is UK resident does not mean that the individual would necessarily have taken that decision in the UK. He or she might well have been outside the UK at the relevant time. Consequently, it would make no sense for the source of OIGs to depend on where the decision to make the disposal giving rise to the OIGs was taken.
Legislative history – OIGs
(1) during the period prior to the abolition of the schedular system by the Tax Law Rewrite Project, OIGs were subject to tax under Schedule D Case VI pursuant to the FA 1984 and then the ICTA 1988 and the remittance rules which applied to them were those set out in the capital gains tax legislation – initially Section 14 of the CGTA and then Section 12 of the TCGA. This suggests that Parliament viewed OIGs as something other than income from foreign securities or possessions because, had that been the case, the relevant charge would have been imposed under either Schedule D Case IV or Schedule D Case V and the remittance rules which applied to OIGs would have been the remittance rules in the ICTA 1970 and the ICTA 1988 which applied to income chargeable under those cases;
(2) the phrase "relevant foreign income" made its first appearance in the legislation when the ITTOIA was enacted as part of the Tax Law Rewrite Project. According to paragraph 3061 of the explanatory notes to the ITTOIA, the label "relevant foreign income" was introduced "to describe the income and other amounts charged to income tax in this Act that are charged under Schedule D Cases IV or V in the source legislation".
Consistent with that approach, at that time, and indeed throughout the period from the enactment of the ITTOIA in 2005 until the enactment of the OFTR in 2009, OIGs were demonstrably not "relevant foreign income" for individuals who were domiciled in the UK. This is because OIGs continued to be subject to income tax under Section 761(1)(b)(i) of the ICTA 1988 and there was no reference to that section in either Section 830(2) or Section 830(4) of the ITTOIA.
It follows that, in order for OIGs now to constitute "relevant foreign income" for a UK domicile, it is necessary to conclude that, when the OFTR was enacted with the cross reference in Regulation 18(3) to Chapter 8, items of income which had not hitherto been "relevant foreign income" for UK domiciles now fell within that definition.
We have been presented with no evidence that Parliament intended to make so fundamental a change at that time. Indeed, paragraph 5.22 of the discussion paper which was published by HM Treasury before the OFTR was enacted, entitled "Offshore funds: a discussion paper", simply stated that "the Government is proposing that the current offshore income gains treatment be retained". If so fundamental a change to the treatment of OIGs for income tax purposes had been intended, we would have expected that to be mentioned at the consultation stage;
(3) the introduction of Section 762ZB of the ICTA 1988 in 2008 and then the enactment of its successor, Regulation 19, in 2009 – and the cross references to those provisions in Section 830(4) of the ITTOIA as "other income" that qualifies as "relevant foreign income" – suggest that OIGs are not "relevant foreign income" for UK domiciles. This is because those sections expressly state that OIGs are to be treated as "relevant foreign income" for non–UK domiciles. We recognise that arguments from redundancy carry limited weight, as noted by Lewison LJ in DMWSHNZ v The Commissioners for Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs [2015] EWCA Civ 1036 at paragraph [38] and Lord Hoffman in Walker at 805D. As such, we might well hesitate to base our conclusion solely on the existence of these provisions. However, the fact that the terms of these provisions are entirely consistent with the conclusion we have reached for other reasons tends to support that conclusion;
(4) it is apparent from the legislative history that the phrase "relevant foreign income" has relevance in two distinct areas:
(a) first in ensuring that particular types of income are taxable only on a remittance basis for non–UK domiciles; and
(b) secondly to apply some specific rules for the calculation of particular types of income for individuals who are not non–UK domiciles.
So far as OIGs are concerned, the first of those areas has been dealt with since 2005 by the express rule in Section 762ZB(2) of the ICTA 1988 and then Regulation 19. Those provisions make it clear, however, that OIGs are "relevant foreign income" only for those individuals who are non–UK domiciles.
As for the second of those areas, the computational rules in question are set out in Part 8 of the ITTOIA. That part includes Section 838 of the ITTOIA, which provides that, when calculating the amount of "relevant foreign income" which is to be subject to tax, a deduction is allowed for expenses incurred outside the UK that are attributable to the payment or collection of the income in question. It is hard to see how that provision can have been intended to apply to OIGs. In the first place, "collection" and "payment" are concepts which are difficult to apply in relation to OIGs. More significantly, the OFTR contains detailed rules in Regulations 38 and 39 for the calculation of OIGs by reference to capital gains tax principles. Those principles include Section 38 of the TCGA, which sets out detailed rules for determining the amounts which are allowable in calculating the gain in question. It is inconceivable that Parliament would have intended the deductions for "collection" and "payment" in Section 838 of the ITTOIA to have applied in addition to Section 38 of the TCGA in the determination of the amount of OIGs to be subject to tax.
Tellingly in our view, in the one circumstance where OIGs qualify as "relevant foreign income" – which is to say, where the remittance basis applies in the case of a non–UK domicile by virtue of Regulation 19 – Section 838 of the ITTOIA is precluded from applying – see Sections 832 and 838(2) of the ITTOIA;
(5) there are provisions elsewhere in the legislation which are designed to make it clear that particular types of income have a foreign source and are subject to Part 8 of the ITTOIA – see Sections 428 and 658 of the ITTOIA. The purpose of those provisions was outlined in the explanatory notes to the ITTOIA at paragraph 3085. No equivalent provision is made in relation to OIGs. Whilst it is conceivable that this was because the status of OIGs as "relevant foreign income" was sufficiently clear without needing an express provision to that effect, we think that a more likely explanation is that OIGs have never been considered to be "relevant foreign income" except in the circumstances described in Section 762ZB(2) of the ICTA 1988 and then Regulation 19;
(6) when construed in the light of the explanatory notes to the ITTOIA, both Sections 827A and 836B of the ICTA 1988 and Section 1015 of the ITA can be regarded as acknowledging that OIGs do not have a source because:
(a) Section 827A of the ICTA 1988 acknowledged that an amount arising from one of the provisions listed in Parts 1 and 3 of the table in Section 836B of the ICTA 1988 might not have a source and Section 761(1)(b)(i) of the ICTA 1988 was listed in Part 1 of that table; and
(b) Section 1015 of the ITA acknowledges that an amount arising from one of the provisions listed in Parts 2 and 3 of the table in Section 1016(2) of the ITA may not have a source and Regulation 17 is listed in Part 3 of that table;
(7) if OIGs were intended to be "relevant foreign income" for UK domiciles, then the way that Section 1016 of the ITA is set out would make no sense. That is because:
(a) Chapter 8 is included in Part 1 of the table in Section 1016(2) of the ITA whereas Regulation 17, which feeds into the charge to tax under Chapter 8, is included in Part 3 of the table in that section; and
(b) there is then a provision – Section 1016(3) of the ITA – which states that "any reference to any provision of ITTOIA 2005 does not include that provision so far as relating to relevant foreign income".
It follows that, if OIGs were to be "relevant foreign income", the reference to Chapter 8 in Part 1 of the table in Section 1016(2) of the ITA could not apply to them, but the reference to Regulation 17 in Part 3 of the table in that section would remain applicable. It is unclear how that interaction would work but the exclusion from Chapter 8 would certainly mean that no reliance could be placed on Section 687 to establish a source for OIGs. In addition, it would mean that, prior to the change to Section 152 of the ITA made by the FA 2015, when losses could still be set off against income charged to tax under Section 1016 of the ITA, some doubt would have arisen over whether losses could be set off against OIGs because OIGs were charged to tax under Chapter 8 and not Regulation 17 itself; and
(8) finally, we note that Section 878(1) of the ITTOIA – which provides that the word "income" is to be treated as including "amounts treated as income (whether expressly or by implication)" – is expressly precluded from applying in Section 687 by Section 687(4) of the ITTOIA. Since OIGs are clearly deemed income, that exclusion sits somewhat uncomfortably with the Appellant's analysis. In our view, it is further evidence that OIGs are not chargeable to tax under Section 687.
The OIGs as PFSI
AIPs
Legislative history – AIPs
(1) the concept of accrued income profits was first introduced in the Finance Act 1985 (the "FA 1985") as an anti–avoidance measure. The aim was to ensure that each holder of securities was subject to tax as income on the interest that accrued on the securities during the holder's period of ownership. Section 73 of the FA 1985 deemed a sum equal to such accrued interest to be income and Section 74 of the FA 1985 provided that, where a person was treated as being entitled to income on that basis, he or she was to be "treated as receiving annual profits or gains…; and the profits or gains shall be chargeable to tax under Case VI of Schedule D".
At that time, as was the case with OIGs, as a result of falling within Schedule D Case VI, losses arising under Schedule D Case VI could be set off against accrued income profits under Section 176 of the ICTA 1970.
Section 75(1)(h) of the FA 1985 provided that accrued income profits arising to non–UK domiciled individuals who would be liable to tax on a remittance basis in respect of interest on the securities transferred under Schedule D Case IV and Schedule D Case V were exempt from tax;
(2) the ICTA 1970 and the FA 1985 were subsequently consolidated in Chapter 2 of Part 17 of the ICTA 1988. Under the ICTA 1988:
(a) accrued income profits remained subject to income tax under Schedule D Case VI pursuant to Sections 713 and 714 of the ICTA 1988;
(b) as a result of the accrued income profits' falling within Schedule D Case VI, losses arising under Schedule D Case VI could be set off against accrued income profits under Section 392 of the ICTA 1988; and
(c) the exemption from tax on accrued income profits arising to a non–UK domiciled individual who would be liable to tax on a remittance basis in respect of interest on the securities transferred under Schedule D Case IV and Schedule D Case V remained (in Section 715(1)(j) of the ICTA 1988).
In short, there was no meaningful change in the treatment of accrued income profits as a result of the consolidating legislation;
(3) Section 46 of the Finance Act 2000 (the "FA 2000") introduced an exemption from tax for the income of charities falling with Schedule D Case VI;
(4) upon the enactment of the ITTOIA:
(a) the schedular system of income tax was abolished;
(b) the charge to income tax under Chapter 2 of Part 17 of the ICTA 1988 was retained;
(c) no reference to that provision was included in Section 830(2) or Section 830(4) of the ITTOIA;
(d) the exemption from tax in Section 715(1)(j) of the ICTA 1988 on accrued income profits arising to a non–UK domiciled individual who would be liable to tax on a remittance basis in respect of interest on the securities transferred under Schedule D Case IV or Schedule D Case V was amended so that the exemption referred instead to accrued income profits arising to an individual who would be liable to tax under Section 832 of the ITTOIA in respect of interest on the securities transferred;
(e) Section 832 of the ITTOIA provided for the remittance basis to apply to a non–UK domicile in respect of "relevant foreign income" and Sections 830(1) and 830(2) of the ITTOIA made provision for interest arising from non–UK securities to be "relevant foreign income";
(f) the reference to Schedule D Case VI in Section 714 of the ICTA 1988 was removed and not replaced by any reference to the ITTOIA;
(g) since accrued income profits did not fall within the charge to income tax under the ITTOIA, loss relief against accrued income profits and the exemption for charities in respect of accrued income profits were preserved by the inclusion in Section 392 of the ICTA 1988 and Section 46 of the FA 2000 of references to income falling within any of the provisions in the new Section 836B of the ICTA 1988, which included a reference in Part 1 of the table in that section to income arising under Section 714(2) of the ICTA 1988; and
(h) a new Section 827A of the ICTA 1988 was inserted which expressly acknowledged that certain amounts chargeable to income tax under the provisions specified in Parts 1 and 3 of the table in Section 836B of the ICTA 1988 (which included Section 714(2) of the ICTA 1988) might not have a source;
(5) upon the enactment of the ITA:
(a) the legislation governing accrued income profits was moved into Part 12 of the ITA. The charge to income tax under that part in Section 714(2) of the ITA echoed the original legislation in the FA 1985 and the ICTA 1988 in that it deemed the amount equal to the accrued interest to be income which was subject to income tax. There was no reference to a charge under the ITTOIA;
(b) the exemption from tax in Section 715(1)(j) of the ICTA 1988 for non–UK domiciled individuals who would be liable to tax on a remittance basis in respect of interest on the securities transferred under Section 832 of the ITTOIA was re–enacted in Section 644 of the ITA;
(c) the loss provisions in Section 392 of the ICTA 1988 were re–enacted in Section 152 of the ITA. This provided that losses arising from transactions falling within one of the provisions specified in Section 1016 of the ITA could be set off against income arising from any such transactions;
(d) the exemption for charities was re–enacted in Section 527 of the ITA which also referred to the provisions specified in Section 1016 of the ITA;
(e) Chapter 2 of Part 12 of the ITA was included in the list of provisions specified in Part 2 of the table in Section 1016(2) of the ITA (which meant that losses could be set off against accrued income profits and the charity exemption for accrued income profits continued to apply). Although Section 1016(3) provided that any reference in Section 1016 of the ITA to a provision in the ITTOIA "does not include that provision so far as relating to relevant foreign income", that exclusion did not apply to the charge in respect of accrued income profits because that charge was under Chapter 2 of Part 12 of the ITA; and
(f) Section 1015 contained an equivalent acknowledgement to the one in Section 827A of the ICTA 1988 – which is to say an acknowledgement to the effect that certain amounts chargeable to income tax under the provisions specified in Parts 2 and 3 of the table in Section 1016(2) of the ITA (which included Chapter 2 of Part 12 of the ITA) might not have a source; and
(6) the changes made in 2008 to the regime for non–UK domiciles included:
(a) the replacement of the exemption in Section 644 of the ITA by Section 670A of the ITA, which specified that, for a non–UK domicile, AIPs were to be treated as "relevant foreign income"; and
(b) the amendment of Section 830(4) of the ITTOIA to add Section 670A of the ITA as a circumstance where "other income" was to be treated as "relevant foreign income".
Conclusion – AIPs
(1) there is no reference in Section 830(2) of the ITTOIA to any provision within Chapter 2 of Part 12 of the ITA; and
(2) the reference in Section 830(4) of the ITTOIA to Section 670A of the ITA as giving rise to "other income" which is to be treated as "relevant foreign income" makes it clear that income falling within Chapter 2 of Part 12 of the ITA is not "relevant foreign income" except in the circumstances described in Section 670A of the ITA – which is to say, except where they are deemed to be received by a non–UK domicile.
(1) during the period prior to the abolition of the schedular system by the Tax Law Rewrite Project, AIPs were subject to tax under Schedule D Case VI pursuant to the FA 1985 and the ICTA 1988 and the regime operated by exempting from tax AIPs realised by non–UK domiciled individuals who would have been liable to tax on a remittance basis in respect of interest on the securities transferred. This suggests that Parliament viewed AIPs as something other than income arising in respect of foreign securities in and of themselves because, had that been the case, the regime would simply have imposed the relevant charge under either Schedule D Case IV or Schedule D Case V and the remittance rules which applied to AIPs would have been the remittance rules in the ICTA 1970 and the ICTA 1988 which applied to income chargeable under those cases;
(2) the phrase "relevant foreign income" made its first appearance in the legislation when the ITTOIA was enacted as part of the Tax Law Rewrite Project. According to paragraph 3061 of the explanatory notes to the ITTOIA, the label "relevant foreign income" was introduced "to describe the income and other amounts charged to income tax in this Act that are charged under Schedule D Cases IV or V in the source legislation" rather than amounts charged to tax under Schedule D Case VI. Consistent with that approach, the exemption from tax for non–UK domiciled individuals who would have been liable to tax on a remittance basis in respect of interest on the securities transferred was amended to refer to interest which would have been "relevant foreign income" falling within Section 832 of the ITTOIA but the AIPs regime continued to operate outside the scope of the ITTOIA;
(3) it was only when the exemption from tax for non–UK domiciled individuals who would have been liable to tax on a remittance basis in respect of the interest on the securities transferred because that interest would have been "relevant foreign income" for the purposes of Section 832 of the ITTOIA was replaced by Section 670A of the ITA in 2008 that AIPs themselves were deemed to be "relevant foreign income". That section applied only to non–UK domiciles;
(4) there are provisions elsewhere in the legislation which are designed to make it clear that particular types of income have a foreign source and are subject to Part 8 of the ITTOIA – see Sections 428 and 658 of the ITTOIA. The purpose of those provisions was outlined in the explanatory notes to the ITTOIA at paragraph 3085. No equivalent provision is made in relation to AIPs;
(5) when construed in the light of the explanatory notes to the ITTOIA, both Sections 827A and 836B of the ICTA 1988 and Section 1015 of the ITA can be regarded as acknowledging that AIPs do not have a source because:
(a) Section 827A of the ICTA 1988 acknowledged that an amount arising from one of the provisions listed in Parts 1 and 3 of the table in Section 836B of the ICTA 1988 might not have a source and Section 714(2) of the ICTA 1988 was listed in Part 1 of that table; and
(b) Section 1015 of the ITA acknowledges that an amount arising from one of the provisions listed in Parts 2 and 3 of the table in Section 1016(2) of the ITA may not have a source and Chapter 2 of Part 12 of the ITA is listed in Part 2 of that table; and
(6) Chapter 2 of Part 12 of the ITA contains its own regime in relation to unremittable AIPs in Sections 668 to 670 of the ITA and there would be no need for such provisions if AIPs were "relevant foreign income" because the regime generally applicable to unremittable "relevant foreign income" in Sections 841 to 845 of the ITTOIA would apply.
issue two
Common ground
(1) the intended purpose of the statute or provision in question;
(2) that by inadvertence the draftsman and Parliament failed to give effect to that purpose in the provision in question; and
(3) the substance of the provision Parliament would have made, although not necessarily the precise words Parliament would have used, had the error in the Bill been noticed.
The third of these conditions is of crucial importance" – see Lord Nicholls in Inco at 592F.
The parties' submissions
(1) it was not abundantly clear that Parliament's purpose in enacting the relieving provisions was to include OIGs and AIPs within their ambit and, hence, not abundantly clear that the omission of OIGs and AIPs from their ambit was the result of an error; or
(2) even if that were not the case, it was not abundantly clear what the substance of the corrected relieving provisions would say.
Parliament's purpose and the absence of error in the legislation
First point – no specific reference to OIGs or AIPs
Second point – OIGs and AIPs are deemed income
Third point – OIGs and AIPs are anti–avoidance income
Fourth point – OIGs do not have a foreign source
Fifth point – treatment of UK domiciles
(1) it was apparent from the way in which the Sections 721A(3)(a) and 721(4)(a) were worded that Parliament must have been aware that, in order for income to be PFSI, the income in question had to be such that it would have been "relevant foreign income" if it had been the individual's; and
(2) it was apparent from the way in which Section 989 of the ITA and Section 830 of the ITTOIA were worded that Parliament must have been aware that:
(a) there was a distinction between those provisions which gave rise to "relevant foreign income" in general (the ones specified in Section 830(2) of the ITTOIA) and those provisions which gave rise to "relevant foreign income" only in certain specific circumstances (the ones specified in Section 830(4) of the ITTOIA); and
(b) since the provisions relating to OIGs and AIPs did not appear in Section 830(2) of the ITTOIA and Regulation 19 and Section 670A of the ITA appeared in Section 830(4) of the ITTOIA, OIGs and AIPs were not "relevant foreign income" for UK domiciles, but were instead "relevant foreign income" only for non–UK domiciles.
Sixth point – Parliament must have been aware of the scope of the "relevant foreign income" definition
(1) the only circumstance in which such items of income amounted to "relevant foreign income" were the ones described in Regulation 19 and Section 670A of the ITA;
(2) those provisions applied only to non–UK domiciles;
(3) the effect of the legislation was to deem an individual who had hitherto been a non–UK domicile to be a UK domicile; and
(4) therefore, it was inconceivable that, in enacting legislation which had the effect of changing each affected individual from being a non–UK domicile to being a UK domicile and thereby preventing the provisions specified in paragraph 98(1) above from applying to the affected individual, Parliament did not also appreciate that the income in question would cease to be "relevant foreign income" for the affected individual and would therefore be incapable of qualifying as PFSI.
The substance of the rectified provision
(1) the courts would have to determine the rules for identifying the source of the relevant income and the location of that source and it is unclear what those rules would be;
(2) the courts would have to determine which of the provisions listed in Section 830(2) of the ITTOIA should be taken to apply to the income in question and it was unclear which of those provisions it would be;
(3) the courts would have to identify the rules for quantifying the OIGs and AIPs. For example, the courts would need to determine:
(a) whether, in calculating OIGs, only the disposal costs allowed under Section 38 of the TCGA should be taken into account or whether account should also be taken of expenses attributable to collection and payment pursuant to Section 838 of the ITTOIA; and
(b) which of the overlapping provisions for unremittable foreign income in Sections 668 to 670 of the ITA and Sections 841 to 845 of the ITTOIA should apply to AIPs; and
(4) the courts would need to determine whether, despite the fact that OIGs and AIPs were "relevant foreign income" and that Section 1016(3) of the ITA excluded references to any provision of the ITTOIA to the extent it related to "relevant foreign income":
(a) claims for losses to be set off against OIGs (before the changes made by the FA 2015) and AIPs could be made under Section 152 of the ITA; and
(b) the charity exemption in Section 527 of the ITA could apply to AIPs.
Conclusion
Introduction
The first and second stages of the test in Inco
Points which do not necessarily negate rectification
Second point – OIGs and AIPs are deemed income
Third point – OIGs and AIPs are anti–avoidance income
Fourth point – OIGs do not have a foreign source
Points which negate rectification
First point – no specific reference to OIGs or AIPs
(1) at the time when the extra–statutory material came into existence, the legislation contained a definition of "relevant foreign income";
(2) Sections 726(2) and 726(3) of the ITA provided that income arising in an offshore structure which would be "relevant foreign income" if it were received by the non–UK domicile to whom it was deemed by Section 721 of the ITA to accrue would be treated as the "relevant foreign income" of the non–UK domicile in question; and
(3) when the new legislation was enacted, Parliament adopted a similar phraseology in Section 721A(3)(a) and 721A(4)(a) of the ITA, which is to say that income would fall within those provisions if it would be "relevant foreign income" of the affected individual in question if it were received by the individual.
In our view, the inescapable conclusion to be drawn from those features is that, when it was said in the extra–statutory material that "foreign income" was going to be protected, the material must have meant that what was going to be protected was "relevant foreign income" rather than "foreign income" in a general sense.
(1) it was intended to encompass all income that would qualify as "relevant foreign income" for the affected individual at the time when the income arose; or
(2) it was intended to encompass all income that would qualify as "relevant foreign income" for the affected individual at the time when the income arose if the affected individual had not been affected by the change in law and remained a non–UK domicile.
Fifth point – treatment of UK domiciles
Sixth point – Parliament must have been aware of the scope of the "relevant foreign income" definition
Conclusion in relation to the first two stages of the test in Inco
The third stage of the test in Inco
Our conclusion in relation to Issue Two
disposition
Right to apply for permission to appeal