The Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal in Ardmore Construction v HMRC, holding that whether or not a payment has a UK source is a question of fact and that the Upper Tribunal’s decision was not one which could be overturned on Edwards v Bairstow principles. In doing so, an opportunity has been missed to clarify this difficult area of the law. There are a number of comments made in the judgment which temptingly hint at general principles that have a wider application. However, there is a danger of taking them out of context. For now, HMRC’s guidance remains the best place to start when considering source.
