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Supreme Court clarifies VAT group rules in Prudential v HMRC
Waqar Shah
15 September 2025
Supreme Court clarifies VAT group rules in Prudential v HMRC
On 11 September 2025, the Supreme Court handed down its judgment in The Prudential Assurance Company Ltd v Commissioners for His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs, a case that delves into the interaction between VAT group rules and the timing of taxable supplies. The decision has significant implications for businesses operating within VAT groups, particularly in relation to deferred consideration and success fees.
5 September 2025
Rayner my parade! The importance of specialist advice.
The headlines this week around former Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner are a reminder of the importance of taking the right advice from appropriate professionals and the potential consequences when such advice is called into question.
19 August 2025
Civil Fraud case update Q2 2025
Bribery - The Claimant in the behemoth case that is Public Institution for Social Security v Al-Wazzan was refused permission to amend its case mid-trial against the 15th to 19th Defendants. This is because such an amendment would have required further expert evidence on complex issues of Swiss law, the amendment was made late, and the 15th to 19th Defendants would be prejudiced by the late amendment. The Claimant was given permission to amend as against the 41st Defendant because the amendment was only minor and the 41st Defendant could easily understand the case against it. The Court also imposed certain restrictions on the cross examination of one of the 15th to 19th Defendants’ witnesses based on the way the case had been pleaded, limiting questioning about the dishonesty of various parties and the falsity of certain documents.
7 August 2025
Oral evidence series Part 6: Is an honest recollection of events truly evidence?
Judicial commentary shows that judges are exceedingly aware of the unreliability of witnesses’ memory when considering evidence at trial. While judges may take differing views as to the reliance that ought to be placed on oral evidence as compared to contemporaneous documents, procedural safeguards are now in place to help strengthen the reliability of witness evidence, in CPR Practice Direction 57AC - Trial Witness Statements in the Business and Property Courts (“PD 57AC”).
6 August 2025
Privilege update: Privy Council confirms the shareholder principle no longer applies in England & Wales
We have previously written about the potential death of the shareholder principle in our previous blogs. The recent Privy Council decision in Jardine Strategic Limited v Oasis Investments II Master Fund Ltd & Ors No 2 confirms what we suspected; the shareholder principle no longer exists in England & Wales.
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