Big tax case delay

[BEARGER 1,829]

http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/news/14296832.Rangers_liquidators__Big_Tax_Case__legal_challenge_delayed_due_to_court_scheduling_problem/

 

Rangers liquidators 'Big Tax Case' legal challenge delayed due to court scheduling problem

Legal challenge

A LEGAL challenge against the taxman's victory in the long-running 'Big Tax Case' involving Rangers has been delayed due to a court scheduling problem.

 

BDO, the liquidators of Rangers oldco had been due to begin their bid to take the case to the highest court in the land on Wednesday at the Court of Session.

 

It is now due to be heard on March 8.

 

A court source said it was not an adjournment requested by either party - but purely "a timetabling issue".

 

Court of Session judges decided in November that Rangers' use of Employee Benefit Trusts (EBTs) from 2001 until 2010 to give millions of pounds of tax-free loans to players and other staff broke tax rules.

 

 

BDO had favoured taking on Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HRMC) in a Supreme Court appeal and it is understood contact had already been made with former Rangers owner David Murray as they prepare the case.

 

Lawyers for BDO are expected to insist payments under the EBT scheme took the form of loans meaning they were exempt from tax.

 

The move makes the liquidators the prime movers in the challenge of the decision by three judges at the Court of Session in Edinburgh that Rangers' use of Employee Benefit Trusts (EBTs) broke tax rules

According to the Courts Reform (Scotland) Act 2014, from September 22, any party wishing to overturn decisions of the Inner House of the Court of Session, Scotland's upper appeal court must now ask that court for permission before seeking to bring a further appeal to the UK Supreme Court.

 

But the Supreme Court has confirmed that if the inner house refuses permission, BDO could then go directly to its judges for permission to appeal. The permission will normally only be given if the appeal raises a point of "general public importance".

 

Previously, appellants from Scotland had an automatic right of appeal in civil matters, provided that two advocates certified an appeal as reasonable.

 

The big tax case decision brought the debate over "tainted titles" into the public arena again with some calling for the club to be stripped of titles and competitions won in the years the EBTs were used claiming Rangers had obtained an unfair sporting advantage.

 

 

But an appeal would put any question of further sporting sanctions on the back burner.

 

Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HRMC) lost a first-tier tax tribunal and a subsequent 2014 appeal over the payments made by the former Rangers owner’s group of companies.

 

At the time, the tax authority had argued that payments made to players and other employees should be taxable but the Murray Group, which formerly owned Rangers, successfully argued they were loans.

 

But in a November appeal judges Lord Carloway, sitting with Lord Menzies and Lord Drummond Young decided that the EBT payments were wages and therefore should be eligible for tax.

 

A group of Murray firms including parent company Murray Group Holdings Ltd, had originally defending the claims. However the courts have been told they have since gone into liquidation leaving BDO and the Rangers oldco as the only opponents.

 

Many believe the case led to Lloyds Banking Group insisting the club debts were cleared, resulting in a sale to venture capitalist Craig Whyte, the subsequent liquidation, and a decision to admit Rangers to the Third Division as punishment.

 

The taxman argues that employees can avoid paying income tax by agreeing that payments be made to others of their choosing, rather than getting the money themselves.

 

The Carloway judgement which is now set to be subject of a new challenge said that the “true nature” of the individual transactions was that bonuses were paid into the trusts on the basis of the work performance of the employee in question, and the profitability of his employing company.

 

 

Rangers fan groups have previously accused the HMRC of wasting millions of pounds of public money in its "witch-hunt" in pursuit of what it called a "phantom tax debt" before the latest November 4 judgement.

 

Some have raised questions over why HMRC began to target the club in the spring of 2010, nine years after the club starting using the scheme and as EBT loopholes were being closed through legislation.

Edited February 23, 2016 by BEARGER

[RANGERRAB 3,328]

The big guns of the English legal establshment lie in wait at the Supreme Court to obliterate the ridiculous 'common sense' judgement by the three clowns at the Scottish Court of Session last year.

Sit back and enjoy fellow bears......and just wait for the mhedia implosion afterwards.

[Blinkyman 0]

The big guns of the English legal establshment lie in wait at the Supreme Court to obliterate the ridiculous 'common sense' judgement by the three clowns at the Scottish Court of Session last year.

Sit back and enjoy fellow bears......and just wait for the mhedia implosion afterwards.

 

Bit above my pay grade as MW would say, but, I sincerely hope you are right ............

[Bearman 9]

Bit above my pay grade as MW would say, but, I sincerely hope you are right ............

 

The English beating the Scots? Sounds familar

[der Berliner 3,310]

Many believe the case led to Lloyds Banking Group insisting the club debts were cleared, resulting in a sale to venture capitalist Craig Whyte, the subsequent liquidation, and a decision to admit Rangers to the Third Division as punishment.

 

Half-truths and straight faced lies.

[aweebluesoandso 290]

More like certain 'Scottish law lords' were unavailable so a wee delay suits the agenda.

[buster. 4,836]

The 'Big tax case delay'......seems to have been going on forever.

 

 

'My brain hurt like a warehouse

it had no room to spare

I had to cram so many things

to store everything in there

And all the fat-skinny people, and all the tall-short people

And all the nobody people, and all the somebody people

I never thought I'd need so many people.

 

We've got five years, stuck on my eyes

We've got five years, what a surprise

We've got five years, my brain hurts a lot

We've got five years, that's all we've got'

 

Edited February 24, 2016 by buster.

[jhunter 0]

The 'Big tax case delay'......seems to have been going on forever.

 

 

'My brain hurt like a warehouse

it had no room to spare

I had to cram so many things

to store everything in there

And all the fat-skinny people, and all the tall-short people

And all the nobody people, and all the somebody people

I never thought I'd need so many people.

 

We've got five years, stuck on my eyes

We've got five years, what a surprise

We've got five years, my brain hurts a lot

We've got five years, that's all we've got'

 

 

fantastic song

[Anchorman 0]

The big guns of the English legal establshment lie in wait at the Supreme Court to obliterate the ridiculous 'common sense' judgement by the three clowns at the Scottish Court of Session last year.

Sit back and enjoy fellow bears......and just wait for the mhedia implosion afterwards.

 

I'd rather we didn't tempt fate with this stuff which is just a mixture of guesswork and wishful thinking. It was very annoying (to say the least) on the very day of the last disappointing outcome, when we were being informed across the board by 'people very much in the know' that we had already won - only to find out that nobody was really 'in the know' at all!

[Whosthedado 1,535]

I'd rather we didn't tempt fate with this stuff which is just a mixture of guesswork and wishful thinking. It was very annoying (to say the least) on the very day of the last disappointing outcome, when we were being informed across the board by 'people very much in the know' that we had already won - only to find out that nobody was really 'in the know' at all!

 

100% agree with this. I remember seeing all the Gers 3 HMRC 0 posts. I was conned and fell for it. Made the verdict even more galling