Accountancy Newsletter October 2016

The Illegality Defence – the new battleground

In July 2016, a nine justice panel of the Supreme Court handed down judgment in Patel v Mirza [2016].

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O'Hare judgment: financial advisers risk liability despite suitable advice

Worth a gamble? Our analysis of the first court approved contingency fee agreement

Is your appointment valid following a block transfer?

What must advisers do to ensure that their clients understand their advice and the risks of investments they recommend? And when does 'sales patter' open them up to claims for bad advice?

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In Bolt Burdon v Tariq & Ors [2016], we have the first case where a court has approved, and enforced, a pure contingency fee agreement (also called a DBA).

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Recent cases we have been involved in have highlighted the need for Insolvency Practitioners to pay careful attention to the effect that block transfer orders have on administrations where the exit route is a creditors' voluntary liquidation.

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Hello Regulator, goodbye privilege

Tribunal criticises HMRC's approach to imposing penalties and clears tax scheme user of fraud and negligence​ 

HMRC's assault on tax avoidance continues

As any professional will know, the regulation of professionals, particularly those in finance, has been bolstered in recent years with regulators being granted increasing and wider powers to investigate, give judgement and impose sanctions.

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In the recent First Tier Tribunal decision of Anthony Bayliss v HMRC, the Tribunal not only cleared the taxpayer of fraud, but also of negligence, and criticised the "highly questionable" approach taken by HMRC to the penalties issued against him for his use of a tax avoidance scheme.

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We have previously reported on HMRC's campaign to clamp down on tax avoidance by use of accelerated payment notices to recover disputed tax directly from taxpayers, and the knock-on effect that this has had on notifications to insurers relating to tax avoidance schemes.

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News from north of the border: Scottish court reforms

The Courts Reform (Scotland Act 2014) ("the Act") has been called “the single most important piece of legislation in the field of civil justice for over a century”.

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