Overview

February 2010 proved to be a good month for HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) and a bad month for taxpayers, with the lack of clarity over the UK's residence rules highlighted once more by a number of cases that have been decided in favour of HMRC.

The Court of Appeal ruled in HMRC's favour in the long-running saga of Mr Gaines-Cooper's claim to be non-UK resident and not ordinarily resident in the UK, and also in the case of Mr Davies and Mr James who claimed to have taken up full-time employment abroad such that they should have been treated as not resident and not ordinarily resident in the UK. The Court of Appeal hearing concerned HMRC's guidance, IR20 (now replaced by HMRC6) - in particular, the interpretation of certain sections of IR20 and the extent to which that guidance was binding on HMRC.

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