11 July 2025
Supreme Court permission to appeal updates – Gunfleet Sands and Beard
The Supreme Court’s website has been updated to indicate that HMRC have been granted permission to appeal in the capital allowances case of Orsted West of Duddon Sands (UK) Limited, Gunfleet Sands Limited and others v HMRC. The taxpayers own and operate offshore windfarms, and the key issue in the case concerned whether expenditure on various studies, including surveys, conducted before the windfarms became operational, constituted qualifying expenditure “on the provision” of plant and machinery for the purposes of section 11 Capital Allowances Act 2001. The Court of Appeal found that the taxpayers’ expenditure on studies informing the design or installation of plant qualified for capital allowances, even if not directly involved in the physical construction. The Court’s interpretation of “on the provision” went further in favour of the taxpayers than the initial First-tier Tribunal decision by also including expenditure on studies that influenced design choices, even if they did not lead to changes in the design of the plant.
The Supreme Court’s website has also been updated to indicate that the taxpayer has sought permission to appeal in Beard v HMRC, concerning the tax treatment of distributions received by a UK-resident individual from a Jersey limited company derived from its share premium account.
Building Safety Levy: draft regulations and guidance
On 10 July 2025, Alex Norris MP (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Building Safety, Fire and Local Growth) issued a written ministerial statement providing an update on the Building Safety Levy. In March 2025, the then Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities confirmed that the new Building Safety Levy, which will, with certain exemptions, apply to developers of new residential buildings in England requiring a building control application, will come into effect on 1 October 2026. Primary legislation for the levy was included in the Building Safety Act 2022.
The statement announces that the draft Building Safety Levy (England) Regulations 2025, which “provide for all aspects of the levy", including its calculation and administration, will be laid in Parliament. The regulations confirm that the levy will be charged on specified applications for building control approval made on or after 1 October 2026. The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has published associated operational guidance, which explains “how the levy is intended to be charged, collected and passed back to central government.” The levy charge, which will be collected by local authorities, will depend on the floorspace of the development and whether the land was previously developed. The levy rates vary by local authority area.
OBR publishes Fiscal risks and sustainability report
The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) has published its Fiscal risks and sustainability report for 2025. The report fulfils the OBR’s obligation in the Charter for Budget Responsibility to examine and report on the sustainability of, and risks to, the public finances. The report focuses on “three areas of risk to the long-term fiscal outlook: the sustainability of UK’s system of public and private pensions; the performance of the government’s financial balance sheet and the risks around the new target for public sector net financial liabilities; and the potential economic and fiscal costs of climate-related damage and mitigation.” The report’s findings include that the UK’s public finances are in a “relatively vulnerable position”, with efforts to make them more sustainable having only “limited and temporary success in recent years.” While the increase in debt is partly attributed to the scale of the global economic shocks arising from the coronavirus pandemic and energy crisis, the OBR states that it has continued to rise and borrowing has remained elevated due to government reversals of plans to consolidate the public finances, including the reversal of planned tax rises and spending reductions.
EMEA Dbriefs webcasts
The EMEA Dbriefs programme is taking a break over the summer. Why not take this time to catch up on demand on some of our more recent webcasts that you may have missed. These include: Addressing the tax impacts of sustainability in the supply chain; Update on consultations on transfer pricing, permanent establishments and diverted profits tax; UK tax update - July; and Business leadership insights to deliver global talent agility. Please visit our Dbriefs website for more information, and to view any other recent webcasts on demand.