In HMRC v GE Financial Investments [2024] EWCA Civ 797 (17 July) the CA allowed HMRC’s appeal holding that a company which was stapled to a US company and so subject to worldwide taxation in the USA was not entitled to double tax relief under the USA/UK treaty.
The appellant company (GEFI) was a UK-resident member of the GE group and was the limited partner in a Delaware limited partnership (LP). The general partner in LP was a USA-resident group member (GEFI Inc). GEFI and GEFI Inc were ‘stapled entities’ for the purposes of the US federal income tax because the shares in one could not be transferred without the shares in the other also being transferred to the same transferee. The effect of the staple was that GEFI was subject to US tax on its worldwide income. It claimed UK double tax relief in respect of the...
