Rebecca Sheldon

Rebecca has recently advised on the following issues:

Litigation

• Prospects of success when considering appealing to the First Tier Tax Tribunal, the Upper Tax Tribunal, the County Court and judicial review
• Drafting grounds of appeal
• Independent reviews
• Penalty notices and closure notices
• Failure to notify penalties
• Without prejudice communications
• Deliberate penalties
• Carelessness
• Discovery assessments
• Late appeals

Residence, domicile & related issues

• Statutory residence test
• Split-year treatment
• The remittance basis
• Domicile and deemed domicile rules
• Domicile statements
• Citizenship
• Indefinite Leave to Remain
• Double tax treaties
• The exceptional circumstances test
• Clean capital
• Offshore Income Gains

Income Tax

• Transfer of Assets Abroad Code
• The “motive” defence
• The meaning of “relevant income”
• Availability of the Enterprise Investment Scheme
• High Income Child Benefit Charge
• Distinction between trading income and disposal of capital assets

Employee taxation

• IR35 rules
• Social Security Co-ordination
• A1 & E101 certificates
• The overseas daily allowance
• Bespoke rates
• Employment related securities
• Disguised remuneration rules

IHT

• Gift with reservation of benefit rules
• Residence nil rate band
• Transferable nil rate band
• The definition of “personal representative,” including de facto executors
• Double trust home-loan schemes
• Spousal exemption (full and domicile limited)
• Loss to donor principle
• Principal charges
• Succession rules and domicile
• Business Property Relief
• Excluded property trusts
• IHT in the context of partnerships
• Unsecured liabilities

VAT

• VAT scope
• The availability of VAT input tax credits
• The meaning of “business purpose”
• The meaning of direct and immediate link
• Apportionment
• VAT leasing structures
• Halifax principle of abuse in a VAT context
• Law and procedure for opting to tax for VAT in the context of leases
• Disapplying an option to tax where the buyer intended to use the building solely for charitable purposes
• VAT penalties and interest
• 1614D VAT certificates
• VAT partial exemption
• The Kittel principle
• VAT consequences in the context of partnerships

SDLT 

• Group relief
• Meaning of “sale”
• Meaning of “consideration”
• Higher rates for additional dwellings
• Main residence replacement relief
• Consequences of failing to stamp a document/inadequately stamping a document
• Refunds
• Amending SDLT returns
• SDLT in the context of property partnerships

Capital Gains Tax

• The availability of principal private residence relief
• Entrepreneurs relief
• Non-resident trusts and capital gains tax
• Meaning of carrying on a trade or business with a view to profit
• CGT in the context of LLPs
• CGT in the context of partnerships
• CGT exemptions and reliefs

Trusts

• The law and procedure for appointing new trustees
• Perpetuity and accumulation issues
• IHT and CGT consequences in the context of different types of trusts, exit charges and 10-year charges
• Taxation of discretionary trusts (non-resident and UK resident beneficiaries)
• Settlement legislation
• Drafting trusts
• Certainty of trusts

Chancery

• Prospects of success in challenging wills
• Intestacy rules
• Mistake in a tax context
• Undue influence (actual and presumed)
• Abuse of confidence
• Estoppel
• Involuntary bailment
• Drafting documents
• Interpretation of will clauses
• Interpretation of deed of conveyance clauses
• Duty of care in execution of wills

Council Tax

• Council tax exemptions
• The meaning of “dwelling” for Council Tax purposes

Other

• The Limitation Act 1980
• Fundamental concepts in corporate and personal insolvency in a tax context
• Advice concerning section 25A of the Commissioners for Revenue and Customs Act 2005
• Development Land Tax Act 1976
• Section 7 of the Interpretation Act 1978 (deemed service of post)

Litigation has included:

Tax litigation

• A Taxpayer v HMRC [2022] UKFTT 00133 (TC) – the very first case on the Statutory Residence Test, specifically the meaning of “exceptional circumstances”
• Upper Tier Tax Tribunal permission to appeal hearing
• FTT hearing concerning the meaning of the word “may” in s 12 FA 1994
• CHF Pip! Plc v HMRC [2021] UKFTT 383 (TC)-  availability of EIS relief
• Chohan Management v Revenue and Customs Commissioners [2021] UKFTT 196 (TC)-deliberate penalties and “blind eye knowledge“
• Michael Robinson Appellant vs the Commissioners For Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs [2020] 11 WLUK 489-deliberate penalties, withdrawal of cash basis
• Adams v HMRC [2020] UKFTT 56 (TC)- principal private residence relief and capital gains tax.
• Successfully settled what would have been a 2 day hearing against the Revenue.
• Application hearings for permission for late appeals to the FTT.
• Appearing for the taxpayer to object to HMRC’s application for summary judgment under Part 24 of the CPR.

Other litigation

• A 2 day multi-track hearing in the RCJ;
• Appearing for the Claimant to prevent the strike out of their claim.

Rebecca also has experience of (where appropriate):

• Settling at the court door, and;
• Negotiating settlements.

Rebecca frequently writes articles for various tax journals.

• R Sheldon, ‘A Taxpayer v HMRC- implications’ 2022 Private Client business (forthcoming)
• R Sheldon, ‘HMRC v SSE Generation Limited’ 2021, British Tax Review
• R Sheldon, ‘Forced to continue’ 2021, Tax Adviser
• R Sheldon, ‘Financial Reporting Council v Frasers Group PLC’ 2021, British Tax Review
• R Sheldon ‘Residence under the OECD Model’ 2020, Key Haven
• R Sheldon & J Coppin, ‘Sheiling Properties Limited’ 2020, Tax Adviser
• R Sheldon, ‘Principal private residence relief’ 2020, Key Haven Tax Review
• R Sheldon, ‘Dong Yang Electronics Case C-547/18’ 2020, British Tax Review
• R Sheldon, ‘Coyle Transport v HMRC’ 2020, British Tax Review
• R Sheldon, ‘All bets are off- Fisher v HMRC‘ 2020, Tax Adviser
• R Sheldon, ‘Arron Banks v HMRC’ 2020, Taxation
• R Sheldon, ‘Summary of the House of Lords Economic Affairs report on IR35” 2020, OSTC
• R Sheldon, ‘The remittance basis‘ 2020, OSTC
• R Sheldon, ‘Tax on overseas properties: which laws apply?‘ 2020, OSTC
• R Sheldon, ‘A stable proposition?’ 2020, Tax Adviser
• R Sheldon, ‘The tax plans of the major parties,‘ 2019, Key Haven Tax Review
• R Sheldon, ‘Limits to Upper Tribunal jurisdiction,’ 2019, Taxation
• R Sheldon, ‘All or nothing: Embiricos v Revenue and Customs Commissioners [2019] UKFTT 236 (TC)’ 2019, Tax Advisor Magazine
• R Sheldon, ‘Praesto Consulting UK Ltd v HMRC [2019] EWCA Civ 353‘ 2019, British Tax Review
• R Sheldon, ‘Finance (No.2) Act 2017 Notes: Section 68: penalty for transactions connected with VAT fraud etc,’ 2017, British Tax Review
• R Feria and R Sheldon, ‘Italmoda: the birth of the principle of third-party liability for VAT fraud,’ 2016, British Tax Review

Rebecca regularly gives lectures and webinars on topical issues in tax:

• Statutory residence test update (July 2022, forthcoming)
• A Taxpayer v HMRC discussion (May 2022)
• Update on OIG regulations (March 2022)
• IHT update for Bloomsbury Professional Private Client event (7 December 2021)
• Divorce and CGT for the Legal Training Consultancy (25 November 2021)
• Excluded property FA 2020 changes for Lexis Nexis (5th October 2021)
• ‘UK residence rules- Covid 19 update’ Key Haven (29th September 2021)
• Goodfellow SDLT discussion at OSTC’s Tax Snax (22nd June 2021)
• Termination payments (in-house lecture) (1st April 2021)
• UK residence rules and Covid 19 at OSTC (31st March 2021)
• Business Rates post budget at OSTC’s Tax Snax (10th March 2021)
• VAT disbursements post Brabners LLP at OSTC (19 November 2020)
• ‘Residence under the OECD Model’ Key Haven (30th September 2020)
• ‘Covid 19 and the relaxation of UK residence rules’ Key Haven (30th September 2020)
• ‘SDLT Holiday, furlough fraud and process of crime’ (15th July 2020)
• ‘Private client tax developments’ at OSTC London seminar (13th November 2019)
• ‘The Labour Party’s Tax plans’ Key Haven Oxford Conference Speaker (1st October 2019)
• ‘VAT and Brexit’ EANOVAT Roundtable speaker (6th September 2019)
• ‘VAT update 2019 webinar‘ co-hosted with Etienne Wong for Lexis Nexis (4th July 2019)
• ‘The Appeals Process’ at OSTC Manchester seminar (22nd May 2019)
• ‘Taxation of Non-Resident Company Landlords (compliance aspects)’ led by Sarah Squires for Paul Hastings (22nd March 2019)
• ‘Taxation of trusts’ for the London Tax Society (4th March 2019)

Rebecca is involved in co-authoring several tax books, including the following:

• Online moderator for James Kessler QC’s “Taxation of Non-Residents and Foreign Domiciliaries.”
• Co-author of Ray & McLaughlin’s “Practical Inheritance Tax Planning“
• NRCGT chapter for  “Tax Planning“
• Co-editor of Wolters Kluwer’s “A Handbook of EU VAT Legislation“

• The Buchanan prize for gaining an “Outstanding” grade on BPTC (Lincoln’s Inn)
• The Kate Bertram First Class award for achieving a first class grade in the LL.M (University of Cambridge)
• Becker law award (University of Cambridge)
• Maria Marina award (University of Cambridge)
• The Lord Mansfield scholarship for the BPTC (Lincoln’s Inn)
• The Hardwicke award (Lincoln’s Inn)
• The Sweet & Maxwell “best final year performance” award (Durham University)
• Lady Hale prize for “best gender & law dissertation” (Durham University)
• Durham University commendation 2015 (Durham University)
• Land law prize (2nd place) (Durham University)
• Durham University commendation 2014 (Durham University)

• Revenue Bar Association
• Chancery Bar Association
• The Contentious Trusts Association (ConTrA)

Rebecca frequently volunteers for Advocate, involving both advisory work and litigation. She was named as a pro bono hero in November 2020 for her pro bono work, see here, and was nominated for the 2021 Advocate award for Young Pro Bono Barrister of the Year, see here. Advocate has also featured one of Rebecca’s cases in their “Applicant Stories” section, see here.