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Controlled response

I would suggest that the article by Barry Hallam 'Associated companies' ( Taxation 2 February 2006 page 441 ) has taken too extreme a view on the question of association and attribution. I believe that the following points should also be considered.

The wording of TA 1988 s 416 (6) which deals with the attribution of rights and powers is 'may' not 'shall'. Within  s 416 itself this different language is apparent as rights or powers of nominees 'shall'   be attributed s 416 (5).Therefore Parliament would appear to have wanted to give HMRC some leeway in considering whether or not to 'attribute'. If not why the difference in the statutory language?

The amended HMRC instruction at CTM60250 includes the statement that ' You should disregard combinations containing superfluous members ' . I would suggest that if Mr A and Mr B each...