One minute with Alex Jupp, tax partner at Skadden.
What’s keeping you busy at work?
There is significant transactional flow at present, in addition to our constant stream of engagements across the table from HMRC and advisory and planning matters. We are seeing increased focus from HMRC on cross-border, cost-sharing arrangements in particular, with perspectives often differing quite strenuously on both sides of the pond.
If you could make one change to a tax law or practice, what would it be?
My first thought would be to improve our transfer pricing rules, in particular by getting rid of the infamous ‘one-way street’ that colleagues and clients around the world find so frustrating. I hope that this is already in the offing within HMRC’s current reform process.
In terms of unfinished business, I was excited about the prospects offered some time ago now by the BEIS consultation on corporate re-domiciliations. This is one aspect of our companies and tax laws which is, in my view, sorely lagging behind many other jurisdictions around the globe. Properly designed, this could increase flexibility and reduce the costs often associated with the relocation of a company into the UK as compared with existing routes.
Are there any new rules that are causing a problem in practice?
I am expecting that the advent of Pillar Two rules in a very significant number of jurisdictions around the world will, alongside continued development of OECD and local guidance and implementation principles, take up a significant amount of our time over the course of the coming weeks and months (and possibly years). Transitional structures pending fuller group reorganisations abound at present. There will also for some time remain elements of uncertainty as between the implementation of these rules across jurisdictions, with potential for unexpected results and therefore disputes arising. The compatibility of these rules with existing tax treaties (especially those with jurisdictions not choosing to implement Pillar Two) and bilateral investment treaties will be a fascinating area to test as well.
What do you know now that you wish you’d known at the start of your career?
It is really the people you work with that matter the most, and this is true across all aspects of practice from clients to colleagues to counterparties and everyone in between. Paying attention to those relationships makes for a successful and gratifying career.
Has a recent tax case caught your eye?
The constant development of the case law relevant to the loan relationships ‘unallowable purpose’ rules is something on which many internationally focused practitioners will be keeping a watchful eye. One theme of particular note to me has been an argument (which has gone against the taxpayer to date) to the effect that even if the purpose of the borrowing might have been a commercial one, the selection of a particular borrowing entity and indeed the very formation and existence of the borrower entity are relevant to the analysis of the main purpose for which the borrower is a party to the loan relationship. I believe we will need to continue to watch this space!
Finally, you might not know this about me but…
When I was studying for the PgDL and LPC, I lived in Horseshoe Cloister, Windsor Castle – certainly the most prestigious address for student accommodation that I ever had!
One minute with Alex Jupp, tax partner at Skadden.
What’s keeping you busy at work?
There is significant transactional flow at present, in addition to our constant stream of engagements across the table from HMRC and advisory and planning matters. We are seeing increased focus from HMRC on cross-border, cost-sharing arrangements in particular, with perspectives often differing quite strenuously on both sides of the pond.
If you could make one change to a tax law or practice, what would it be?
My first thought would be to improve our transfer pricing rules, in particular by getting rid of the infamous ‘one-way street’ that colleagues and clients around the world find so frustrating. I hope that this is already in the offing within HMRC’s current reform process.
In terms of unfinished business, I was excited about the prospects offered some time ago now by the BEIS consultation on corporate re-domiciliations. This is one aspect of our companies and tax laws which is, in my view, sorely lagging behind many other jurisdictions around the globe. Properly designed, this could increase flexibility and reduce the costs often associated with the relocation of a company into the UK as compared with existing routes.
Are there any new rules that are causing a problem in practice?
I am expecting that the advent of Pillar Two rules in a very significant number of jurisdictions around the world will, alongside continued development of OECD and local guidance and implementation principles, take up a significant amount of our time over the course of the coming weeks and months (and possibly years). Transitional structures pending fuller group reorganisations abound at present. There will also for some time remain elements of uncertainty as between the implementation of these rules across jurisdictions, with potential for unexpected results and therefore disputes arising. The compatibility of these rules with existing tax treaties (especially those with jurisdictions not choosing to implement Pillar Two) and bilateral investment treaties will be a fascinating area to test as well.
What do you know now that you wish you’d known at the start of your career?
It is really the people you work with that matter the most, and this is true across all aspects of practice from clients to colleagues to counterparties and everyone in between. Paying attention to those relationships makes for a successful and gratifying career.
Has a recent tax case caught your eye?
The constant development of the case law relevant to the loan relationships ‘unallowable purpose’ rules is something on which many internationally focused practitioners will be keeping a watchful eye. One theme of particular note to me has been an argument (which has gone against the taxpayer to date) to the effect that even if the purpose of the borrowing might have been a commercial one, the selection of a particular borrowing entity and indeed the very formation and existence of the borrower entity are relevant to the analysis of the main purpose for which the borrower is a party to the loan relationship. I believe we will need to continue to watch this space!
Finally, you might not know this about me but…
When I was studying for the PgDL and LPC, I lived in Horseshoe Cloister, Windsor Castle – certainly the most prestigious address for student accommodation that I ever had!
