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England and Wales Court of Appeal (Civil Division) Decisions |
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You are here: BAILII >> Databases >> England and Wales Court of Appeal (Civil Division) Decisions >> Fowler v HM Revenue and Customs [2018] EWCA Civ 2544 (15 November 2018) URL: http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCA/Civ/2018/2544.html Cite as: [2018] STC 2401, [2019] 1 All ER 717, [2018] BTC 41, 21 ITL Rep 388, [2018] EWCA Civ 2544, [2018] STI 2350 |
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ON APPEAL FROM UPPER TRIBUNAL
(Tax and Chancery Chamber)
Judge Guy Brannan
UT/2016/0122
Strand, London, WC2A 2LL |
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B e f o r e :
LORD JUSTICE HENDERSON
and
LORD JUSTICE BAKER
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FOWLER |
Appellant |
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- and - |
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THE COMMISSIONERS FOR HER MAJESTY'S REVENUE AND CUSTOMS |
Respondent |
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Akash Nawbatt QC and Colm Kelly (instructed by HMRC) for the Respondent
Hearing date : 23rd October 2018
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Crown Copyright ©
Lord Justice Lewison:
"(1) The profits of an enterprise of a Contracting State shall be taxable only in that State unless the enterprise carries on business in the other Contracting State through a permanent establishment situated therein. If the enterprise carries on business as aforesaid, the profits of the enterprise may be taxed in the other State but only so much of them as is attributable to that permanent establishment."
"Where profits include items of income or capital gains which are dealt with separately in other Articles of this Convention, then the provisions of those Articles shall not be affected by the provisions of this Article."
"Subject to the provisions of Articles 15, 17 and 18 of this Convention, salaries, wages and other similar remuneration derived by a resident of a Contracting State in respect of an employment shall be taxable only in that State unless the employment is exercised in the other Contracting State. If the employment is so exercised, such remuneration as is derived therefrom may be taxed in that other State."
"This Convention shall apply to taxes on income and on capital gains imposed on behalf of a Contracting State … irrespective of the manner in which they are levied."
"As regards the application of the provisions of this Convention at any time by a Contracting State, any term not defined therein shall, unless the context otherwise requires, have the meaning that it has at that time under the law of that State for the purposes of the taxes to which this Convention applies, any meaning under the applicable tax laws of that State prevailing over a meaning given to the term under other laws of that State."
"'In the employment income Parts "employment" includes in particular—
(a) any employment under a contract of service,
(b) any employment under a contract of apprenticeship, and
(c) any employment in the service of the Crown."
"Employment income is not charged to tax under this Part if it is within the charge to tax under Part 2 of ITTOIA 2005 (trading income) by virtue of section 15 of that Act (divers and diving supervisors)."
"(1) This section applies if—
(a) a person performs the duties of employment as a diver or diving supervisor in the United Kingdom or in any area designated by Order in Council under section 1(7) of the Continental Shelf Act 1964 (c.29),
(b) the duties consist wholly or mainly of seabed diving activities, and
(c) any employment income from the employment would otherwise be chargeable to tax under Part 2 of ITEPA 2003.
(2) The performance of the duties of employment is instead treated for income tax purposes as the carrying on of a trade in the United Kingdom.
(3) For the purposes of this section the following are seabed diving activities—
(a) taking part as a diver in diving operations concerned with the exploration or exploitation of the seabed, its subsoil and their natural resources, and
(b) acting as a diving supervisor in relation to any such diving operations."
"The question that often arises in respect of deeming provisions is how far does the effect of the deemed treatment extend? Does it only extend to the immediate purpose addressed by the provision or does it go further? That, essentially, is the question in this case. Does s 15 ITTOIA simply have the effect that Mr Fowler must compute his income in accordance with the rules relating to trading income or does the treatment deemed by s 15 mean that his income falls within art 7 rather than art 14 of the Treaty?"
"For my part I take the correct approach in construing a deeming provision to be to give the words used their ordinary and natural meaning, consistent so far as possible with the policy of the Act and the purposes of the provisions so far as such policy and purposes can be ascertained; but if such construction would lead to injustice or absurdity, the application of the statutory fiction should be limited to the extent needed to avoid such injustice or absurdity, unless such application would clearly be within the purposes of the fiction. I further bear in mind that because one must treat as real that which is only deemed to be so, one must treat as real the consequences and incidents inevitably flowing from or accompanying that deemed state of affairs, unless prohibited from doing so."
"(1) Where the duties of any employment which are performed by a person in the United Kingdom or a designated area consist wholly or mainly—
(a) of taking part, as a diver, in diving operations concerned with the exploration or exploitation of the seabed, its subsoil and their natural resources; or
(b) of acting, in relation to any such diving operations, as a diving supervisor,
the Income Tax Acts shall have effect as if the performance by that person of those duties constituted the carrying on by him of a trade within Case I of Schedule D; and accordingly Schedule E shall not apply to the emoluments from the employment so far as attributable to his performance of those duties."
"5. The purpose of the [2005 Act] is to rewrite income tax legislation relating to trading, property and investment income so as to make it clearer and easier to use.
6. The Act does not generally change the underlying law when rewriting it. The only changes to the law which it does make are minor ones which are within the remit of the Tax Law Rewrite Project and the Parliamentary process for the Act.
7. In the main, such changes are intended to clarify existing provisions, make them consistent or bring the law into line with well established practice."
"This section deals with activities which are strictly the duties of an employment but which, if certain conditions are met, are taxed as if they were the carrying on of a trade. It is based on section 314 of ICTA."
Lord Justice Henderson:
"The performance of the duties of employment is instead treated for income tax purposes as the carrying on of a trade in the United Kingdom."
"I further bear in mind that because one must treat as real that which is only deemed to be so, one must treat as real the consequences and incidents inevitably flowing from or accompanying that deemed state of affairs, unless prohibited from doing so."
"The statute says that you must imagine a certain state of affairs; it does not say that having done so, you must cause or permit your imagination to boggle when it comes to the inevitable corollaries of that state of affairs."
"Employment income is not charged to tax under this Part [i.e. Part 1 of ITEPA 2003] if it is within the charge to tax under Part 2 of ITTOIA 2005 (trading income) by virtue of section 15 of that Act (divers and diving supervisors)."
Lord Justice Baker: