As the Paralympic Games conclude with team GB winning more medals than any nation but China, Robin Williamson reflects on steps taken by legislators over the past three decades to level the playing...
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Robin Williamson
Recent Posts
A new tax basis for business – it may be simpler but it should not be rushed
Robin Williamson discusses an important consultation published on L Day
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Financial institution notices and the removal of taxpayer safeguards
As is well known, Schedule 36 of Finance Act 2008 gives HMRC extensive powers of information-gathering, search and inspection in order to check a taxpayer’s tax position or (following FA 2021) to...
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Groundhog Day for employment allowance scam
While listening to BBC’s File on 4 “Britain’s Ghost Companies” on 11 May 2021, I experienced a distinct sense of déjà vu.
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Discovery assessments: Supreme Court pronounces on staleness and deliberate inaccuracy
The Supreme Court has released its eagerly awaited judgment in HMRC v Tooth [2021] UKSC 17. In doing so it has handed down its authoritative interpretation of the law on discovery assessments and...
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Winner takes all? How costs are allocated in tax tribunals
Sometimes a court or tribunal has power to make orders about who pays the costs of a trial, whether on its own initiative or on the application of one of the parties. It is usual for such orders for...
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HMRC Charter 2020: Better than before?
The Cambridge English Dictionary defines a charter as ‘a formal statement of the rights of a country's people, or of an organization or a particular social group, that is agreed by or demanded from a...
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Uber v Aslam: The end of the beginning?
On 19 February 2021, the Supreme Court released its decision in Uber BV and others v Aslam and others [2021] UKSC 5, ruling that the appellants (who were Uber drivers) were ‘workers’ under the...
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Withdrawal of gross payment status was ‘disproportionate’
In an interesting First-tier Tribunal case, a judge has found that HMRC’s action in withdrawing gross payment status from a construction company eight years after its offence, when it had been...
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HMRC’s 10-year strategy: A trusted, modern tax administration
As the new year begins, it seems a good time to look ahead to how the tax system might develop in the future. In this article, I will consider HMRC’s 10-year strategy published in July 2020 under the...
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