March 2014 #137

Mariner v HMRC [2013] UKFTT 657 (TC)

Income tax;careless or negligent completion of income tax return;reliance on a professional advisor;reasonable excuse for careless or negligent completion of return.

Elizabeth Mariner (the appellant) instructed a professional tax advisor to complete and file her 2011 income tax return with HMRC. She was making losses on a let property. The return set these losses against her income from other sources. HMRC did not accept that the losses could be ‘set-off’ in this way. A penalty for underpaid tax as the result of the careless or negligent completion...

Marley v Rawlings & anr [2014] WTLR 299

Mr Alfred Rawlings and his wife Maureen Rawlings instructed a solicitor to draft their wills in mirror form. Each spouse intended to leave his or her entire estate to the survivor of them, but provided that, should the other have predeceased or survived them for less than a month, their estates should be left to the appellant, who was not related to them but whom they treated as their son. Mr and Mrs Rawlings’ solicitor attended them on 17 May 1999 to enable a due execution of draft wills containing these provisions. By an oversight, their solicitor gave each spouse the other’s draft wil...

Petterson v Ross & ors [2013] EWHC 2724 (Ch)

Mrs Ross, the testatrix, (T) had three adult children, the defendants: Diana (D), Lorenzo (L) and Gianni (G). T died on 13 July 2008 leaving a will dated 21 October 1988 (the will). At her death T held the following assets:

1. a) 13 Kensington Gardens, Ferryhill, County Durham (13KG) where D had lived until she moved in with her partner. At T’s death the property was worth £125,000 but subject to a mortgage with £50,401.52 outstanding. 13KG was bequeathed to D ‘free from any mortgage or legal charge to which the same may be subject at the date of my death’. T...

Re Po; Jo v Go & ors [2013] EWHC 3932 (COP)

PO was 88 years of age and lacked capacity to decide where she should live. She had four children, the applicant (JO), and the first, second and third respondents (GO, RO and MP). GO and RO were PO’s attorneys for property and affairs but no power of attorney or deputyship order was extant for welfare decisions.

Until the events giving rise to this application PO was habitually resident in England and Wales, living in her own property in Worcestershire with family and local authority assistance. However, in April 2012, GO moved PO to Scotland, initially to live with him but...

Rosenbaum (dec’d) v HMRC [2013] UKFTT 495 (TC)

The appellant filed a paper tax return late and was liable to a penalty but appealed, arguing that it was merely intended to be a copy of a tax return subsequently filed online and in time. The respondent’s proposition was accepted that a subsequent online timely filing of a tax return by 31 January did not relieve a taxpayer, who had filed a valid paper tax return after 31 October, from a penalty. However, although the nature of the paper document which had been filed was in dispute and central to the issues between the parties, the respondent, on whom the burden of proof lay, fai...

Taylor (dec’d) v HMRC [2013] UKFTT 483 (TC)

Mr J G Taylor was appointed as the executor of his father’s estate. HMRC wrote to Mr Taylor and asked him whether he wished to complete a full return or complete a form R27 to deal with his father’s final tax affairs. Mr Taylor chose to complete a form R27 and returned this. Correspondence between the parties ensued and three calculations were issued. Each was headed as a ‘calculation’. Mr Taylor was unhappy with the final calculation and appealed to the tribunal.

HMRC submitted that there was no appealable decision as the figures were calculations not for...

Behague v HMRC [2013] UKFTT 596 (TC)

HMRC opened an enquiry into Mr Behague’s (the appellant) self-assessment return and issued a notice to the appellant under para 1 of sch 36 of the Finance Act 2008. This notice requested the provision, to HMRC, of a client engagement letter and a report issued to the appellant by his solicitors. The appellant appealed this notice and claimed legal professional privilege (LLP) applied to the documents.

HMRC accepted that communications between a solicitor and his client were privileged to the extent they related to the giving or obtaining of legal advice, however HM...

Bentine v Bentine [2013] EWHC 3098 (Ch)

This appeal concerned the one-fifths rule contained in s70 of the Solicitors Act 1974. That rule provides that if a solicitor’s costs bill is reduced by more than one-fifth at detailed assessment, the costs of that assessment will be borne by that solicitor. If there are special circumstances, the rule may be disapplied under s70 (10) of the Act.

The original action was a claim issued in the Central London County Court by a mother against her daughter, Miss Bentine, for the court to determine their respective equitable interests in certai...