Other cases that caught our eye: 28 October 2022

Timing of paying dividends: Those who advise owner-managed companies will know that there is often informality in the way in which dividends are paid and declared. In most cases this does not create problems but where things go wrong establishing whether a dividend has actually been paid and (if it has) when it was paid can be far from straightforward. In Manolete Partners v Rutter [2022] EWHC 2552 (Ch) (7 October 2022) while not a tax case has much of interest to those dealing with smaller companies because of its detailed discussion of the relevant law in the context of an insolvency. The dispute came down to when precisely a particular large dividend was paid. Was it when it was recorded in the company’s accounts or when it was processed thought the company’s electronic records which was several months later? The distinction mattered because a...