Loose Ends - Readers' planning points, pitfalls and other correspondence

Early retirement appeal case

A decision of a Special Commissioner given in September 2000 concerned the meaning of retirement in relation to a pension scheme. The case was Venables and the Trustees of the Fussell Pension Scheme v Hornby (SpC 265) and it concerned an executive director who retired in 1994 from that position but continued as a non-executive director. The Revenue was seeking to tax the lump sum payment which he received at that stage basing its contention on the fact that there was no actual retirement in view of the continuing non-executive directorship. The case was reported more fully in Taxation 11 January 2001.

The Special Commissioner decided the early retirement point against the Revenue but the case was still lost on a secondary point concerning the trust deed. It is expected that the case will go further.

The appellants are seeking to establish...