Publication Type
Transcript
Version
publishedVersion
Publication Date
10-2025
Abstract
The concept of beneficial ownership is extensively used in domestic tax legislation, but several decades ofinconsistent case law have muddied the waters as to exactly what it means. With the leading casesstopping short of the apex court, it is difficult to reconcile the cases and come up with a clear definition ofbeneficial ownership. The recent Hargreaves decision by Falk LJ (with whom Nugee and Peter JacksonLJJ agreed) represents the most structured judicial attempt to rationalise the concept to date. This notesuggests that, contrary to Falk LJ’s statement that the concept is ‘well established’, the law pre-Hargreaveswas far from clear. This situation has since been greatly improved through the efforts of Falk LJ,though further questions remain for future judicial clarification.
Keywords
Tax Law
Discipline
Tax Law
Research Areas
Corporate, Finance and Securities Law
Areas of Excellence
Growth in Asia
Publication
Legal Studies
Volume
45
Issue
5
First Page
638
Last Page
642
ISSN
0261-3875
Identifier
10.1017/lst.2025.10072
Publisher
Cambridge University Press
Citation
OOI, Vincent.
Beneficial ownership in domestic tax legislation, some clarity, but far from ‘well established’: Hargreaves Property Holdings Ltd v HMRC [2024] EWCA Civ 365. (2025). Legal Studies. 45, (5), 638-642.
Available at: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/sol_research/4731
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Additional URL
https://doi.org/10.1017/lst.2025.10072