Billy Elliots Star’s Generosity Backfires
One of the things that Russell Eisen, Director – Head of Tax at Elman Wall, spoke about at our away day was attention to detail.
Below is his summary of an article from this week’s Taxation Magazine:
“Here, from this week’s Taxation magazine, is a perfect example of how not paying attention to detail can be costly!
The Supreme Court has recently ruled on the long running saga of the famous actor Tim Healy. In fact, this dispute has had almost a long a run through the Courts as the musical Billy Elliot, the show at the centre of the dispute!
In essence the question was whether, whilst Tim was appearing in the show in London, given his home was in Cheshire, he could claim a tax deduction for his temporary accommodation costs, being a flat he rented out near the Victoria Palace Theatre.
In the end the Courts said that he cannot claim a deduction. The reason for this is because during cross-examination he said that the size of the flat being rented was such that it needed to be big enough to accommodate friends who he expected to visit, given the success of the show.
By admitting this tiny fact of intent meant that no longer was the flat solely being used for trading purposes but also it had a personal purpose and hence as there can be no tax relief where something has a duality of purpose, he has lost his claim.
… The things we do for our friends!”
Elman Wall Blog 