UK: Tribunal finds that payments were not distributions

Earlier this month judgment was given in Baker v HMRC [2013] UKFTT 394 (TC). The tribunal held that payments received by a shareholder, under a scheme for the purchase by a company of its own shares which was found to be void, were not distributions for the purposes of section 209 of the Income and Corporation Taxes Act 1988 and were therefore not taxable as such. The Tribunal also held that because it was not a court it did not have jurisdiction to grant relief under what is now section 1157 of the Companies Act 2006.