In a recent development, the Supreme Court dismissed the review petitions filed against its decision in State Tax Officer v Rainbow Papers Ltd., which had disturbed the settled position that in insolvency resolution proceedings, statutory dues (including tax claims) fall in the category of operational debt. Instead, the Supreme Court held that statutory dues qualify as debts owed to a secured creditor, and a resolution plan that ignores such debts is liable to be rejected.

Rainbow Papers: The Judgment

In State Tax Officer (1) v. Rainbow Papers Ltd., 2022 SCC OnLine SC 1162 ("Rainbow Papers"), the Supreme Court dealt with the question as to whether the provisions of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016, ("IBC") (specifically Section 53) overrides Section 48 of the Gujarat Value Added Tax Act, 2003 ("GVAT Act").

Section 48 of the GVAT Act provides as follows.

Section 48. Tax to be first charge on property:

Assume that you have a company which has ceased trading and is left with a cash balance. You could extract most of the cash by paying a dividend, but that would be inefficient for tax purposes (resulting in tax rates of up to 39.35%). So, instead, you decide to wind the company up and receive the proceeds as a capital distribution, taking advantage of the lower capital gains tax rates (generally at 10% or 20% depending on the circumstances). Surely that is legitimate?

The judgment of Chief ICC Judge Briggs in Re Zhang Zhenxin (Deceased); Eternity Sky Investments Ltd v The Estate of Zhang Zhenxin (Deceased) and Anor [2023] EWHC 2744 (Ch) is of interest because, as the judge himself remarked, there is little authority on the appointments of interim receivers in cases of individual insolvency; and for that matter there is little on the administration of the estates of deceased insolvents, that being the condition of the debtor in this case.

Denkt u nog wel eens terug aan de verplichte lockdown, avondklok en andere maatregelen tijdens de coronapandemie? Ogenschijnlijk ligt de coronacrisis ver achter ons. Maar tienduizenden ondernemers kampen dagelijks nog met de nasleep. Wij vertellen u meer over de huidige stand van zaken en acties die u kunt ondernemen.

Belastingmaatregelen tijdens de coronapandemie

Vooral belastingschulden hangen dreigend als zwaard van Damocles boven duizenden ondernemingen. Om hen te ondersteunen zijn diverse belastingmaatregelen genomen, zoals:

A thorny question facing a company when considering a Restructuring Plan is how to deal with HMRC particularly following HMRC’s opposition to recent plans.

Creditors now have some assistance in these deliberations thanks toguidance published by HMRC setting out how they will approach discussions with companies considering a Restructuring Plan.

The recent news on the BBC about the rise in insolvencies makes for tough reading. But those who are in business already know how difficult it is out there as they try to weather the trading conditions. Inflationary pressures are increasing the costs of providing goods and services to customers, eroding profitability.

With the passing of the Moveable Transactions (Scotland) Act (MTSA) (likely to pass into law in 2024) the way in which we take security over rights and assets in Scotland will be brought firmly into the 21st century, doing away with the need to rely on statutes from as long ago as 1862 and a smattering of case law which has fostered uncertainty in the market for almost as long.

Restructuring plans under Part 26A of the Companies Act 2006 are a powerful tool for restructuring the debts of a company.

www.ploum.nl Kwartaalupdate Bestuurdersaansprakelijkheid Q3 2023 1 START IT UP! Introductie Auteurs: Thomas Munnik en Annerieke Meerkerk In het derde kwartaal van 2023 zijn op www.rechtspraak.nl verschillende uitspraken gepubliceerd waarin de ingestelde vordering gegrond was op bestuurdersaansprakelijkheid. In deze Kwartaalupdate Bestuurdersaansprakelijkheid voor Q3 2023 is een selectie gemaakt uit deze uitspraken. De navolgende onderwerpen komen aan bod: 01. Bestuurder aansprakelijk vanwege onjuiste mededelingen? (Gerechtshof Arnhem-Leeuwarden 5 september 2023) 2 02.