Focus on Group Relief: The End of the Road?

The dispute regarding the compatibility of the UK's group relief rules with EU law has now entered its tenth year. This month the Upper Tier Tribunal heard two appeals regarding how to apply the ECJ's decision in Marks & Spencer v Halsey (Case C-446/03) which held that the UK's rules infringed EU law to the extent that they prevented the losses of non-UK subsidiaries being set against the profits of the UK parent where there was no possibility that those losses could receive tax relief in their home state. In addition the UK's group relief rules are currently the subject of infringement proceedings. Given the amounts at stake and the fact that the ECJ appears to take the view that it is not necessary for...