Private client review for February

Embiricos: the final word on partial closure notices?

Long-term UK residents are increasingly finding themselves the subject of HMRC investigations into their claims that they have retained their non-UK domicile status (and so qualify for the remittance basis of taxation). Taxpayers subjected to lengthy and intrusive domicile enquiries will therefore be concerned by the Appeal Court’s recent judgment in Embiricos v HMRC [2022] EWCA Civ 3.

In this saga – as to whether HMRC can be required to give a partial closure notice (PCN) on a threshold matter before a taxpayer needs to provide information to allow HMRC to quantify his consequential tax liability – judges are currently split 7:2 in HMRC’s favour with both appeals having gone HMRC’s way. A re-hash of the chicken and egg question (which came first: the domicile...