Patrick Boch practices in all areas of revenue law, as well as traditional chancery (particularly probate and bankruptcy) and general commercial law.
Tax litigation
His recent tax litigation experience includes:
- Shinelock Ltd (2021) UKFTT 318 (before the FTT): whether:
- a contractual obligation to make a payment equal to the capital gain upon sale of a property was an expense incurred in bringing a loan relationship into existence under s. 306A CTA 2009;
- the payment amounted to a “distribution” under s. 1000 CTA 2010 because the amount paid depended on the results of the company’s “business”; and
- whether the tribunal had jurisdiction to hear the appeal in circumstances where a claim to set the loan relationship deficit against total profits was not made within the relevant time limit.
- The How Development (on appeal to the Upper Tribunal): whether certain woodland purchased with a country house came within the “garden or grounds” of that property under s. 116(1) FA 2003 (if it did not, lower SDLT rates would apply).
- T Ltd (before the FTT): whether a Christmas-related performance was eligible for theatre tax relief under Part 15C CTA 2009.
Private client tax
His tax advisory practice covers a broad range of private client work, such as:
- Whether proposed planning relating to a family-owned enterprise would give rise to difficulties for purposes of business property relief or the CGT value shifting rules (s 29, TCGA 1992).
- Whether a tax charge on participator loans resulting from the liquidation of a close company could be avoided or delayed.
- Whether a tax charge arose under Part 7, ITEPA in circumstances where employment-related securities were forfeited, the legality of the forfeiture was challenged, and a substantial settlement payment was made to the client.
- Whether a settlement, following confiscation of assets on suspicion of tax evasion under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002, prevented HMRC from conducting an enquiry. It was also necessary to consider whether the Scottish Government was distinct from the Crown, on whose behalf HMRC act.
- Whether the French tax authorities could enforce a tax debt in England or the Isle of Man; and whether in the unlikely event the client’s refusal to pay disputed French tax amounted to an offense under French law, the client could be sought extradited to France – from England or the Isle of Man.
- Whether a property rental business was eligible for CGT and SDLT incorporation relief.
He has particular experience of advising on the concepts of “trade” and “business” (especially as applied to the finance industry). Apart from representing the Revenue in a 7-day trial relating to a financial trader (R Gill) – where it was argued the taxpayer’s dealings in financial instruments amounted to ‘investment’, and not a ‘trade’ – he has advised on the application of those concepts to:
- an application for entrepreneur’s relief following the sale of a company providing long-term loans to businesses in exchange for a share of their profits;
- a financial trader engaged in spread betting activities; and
- whether a bridging loan, taken out by a person (since deceased) claiming to require the loan to renovate a single rental property, was for the purposes of her “business” under the consumer credit legislation.
Avoidance work
As an ex-HMRC lawyer, he also has considerable knowledge of avoidance work. Examples include:
- advising a law firm on the rules on enablers of tax avoidance schemes (Sch. 16 to F(No 2)A 2017), including the application of the GAAR to the planning made available to clients of the firm and the whether the rules could apply to a jurisdiction outside the United Kingdom;
- APNs, follower notices, DOTAS and the rules on ‘disqualified advice’;
- the transfer of assets abroad legislation;
- litigation of avoidance schemes involving many users;
- disputes involving the loan relationship code, e.g. the erstwhile “fairly represents” and “unallowable purpose” (s. 441 CTA 2009); and
- other anti-avoidance rules, e.g. s. 16A TCGA 1992, ‘arbitrage’ and transfer pricing, the Ramsay doctrine, and the GAAR.
Traditional chancery & general commercial
Outside tax, Patrick Boch has a traditional chancery and general commercial practice, advising mainly professional executors and businessmen, as well as parties to tax-related insolvency proceedings. His recent advisory experience includes:
- drafting an arbitration clause for a complex, cross-border arrangement with a view to preventing multiple proceedings – and enabling multi-party arbitration – in the event of a dispute;
- advising on the jurisdiction of the English courts to hear a dispute involving Jamaican land;
- advising on testamentary capacity and undue influence where a testator had disinherited his family in favour of a neighbour a few months before his death;
- advice on the merits of a case to be brought by an estate against a romance fraudster, who coaxed the deceased into giving him significant sums before her death, and the IHT treatment of those gifts;
- advice on whether land in a bankruptcy estate was beneficially owned by a third party;
His recent advocacy experience before the courts includes:
- An application in the High Court to admit expert evidence concerning a bankrupt’s inability (due to her mental state at the time) to understand a petition served by HMRC.
- Responding to an application for judgment for a foreign tax debt under the MARD Directive, the issue being whether the debt could be challenged before the English courts on the basis it was unrealistic and absurd.
- An appeal before a Circuit Judge of a decision to strike out the claimants’ case in a case involving the breach of a disputed oral contract.
- Responding to a bankruptcy petition, arguing the Secretary of State would be unreasonable not to accept an offer to secure the debt.