HMRC brought an appeal against an order of the High Court (June 2009) which dismissed their appeal against the General Commissioner’s decision (August 2005) that expenses incurred by the taxpayer for the purpose of her employment as a specialist registrar in dermatology, were deductible for tax purposes. HMRC’s appeal was dismissed by the Court.
This case concerned section 198(1) Income and Corporation Taxes Act 1988 and the entitlement of the taxpayer to claim deductions against her Schedule E income for expenses incurred in attending specialist education training courses and conferences. One of the key issues for the Court was whether the terms of the taxpayer’s contract required her to attend the training courses and conferences. The Court considered that there was no reason why in principle the taxpayer’s contracts during the period of employment could not be characterised as ‘training’ contracts. Therefore expenditure on attending training courses and conferences was necessarily incurred in the performance of her duties under those contracts.
The Court concluded that the expenses were necessarily and exclusively incurred in the performance of her duties as an employee and therefore HMRC’s appeal was dismissed.
The full text of the judgment is available on Bailii or here.