UK Residency Update
Court of Appeal decision in R (on the application of Robert Gaines-Cooper) v Revenue & Customs Commissioners (2010)
On Monday the Court of Appeal released its decision in the judicial review of the Robert Gaines-Cooper case. The appeal was heard together with two other similar appeals by Robert Davies and Michael James.
Background
The saga of Mr Gaines-Cooper began in October 2006, when the Special Commissioners (now part of the Tax Tribunals) determined that despite him seeking to claim residency in the Seychelles, he had remained resident in the UK.
A key part of Mr Gaines-Cooper's case was that he had relied on guidance issued by HMRC (known as IR20) that set out the circumstances in which an individual would, or would not, be treated as resident in the UK and therefore liable to UK income and capital gains tax. A key part of the guidance that Mr Gaines-Cooper relied on was that spending less than 91 days a year in the UK would mean that he could not be treated as UK resident. In particular he had relied on days of arrival in and departure from the UK not being counted for the purposes of the 91-day test to spend the weekend in the UK, flying in on Saturday and out on Sunday to avoid the visit being counted. This led to the Special Commissioners deciding that in his case the number of nights in the UK should be counted rather than the number of days, an approach that has since been enshrined in HMRC guidance, with a 'day' now meaning presence at midnight.
Davies and James relied on different guidance in IR20 that individuals who go abroad to work under a full-time contract of employment would also not be treated as resident in the UK.
The taxpayers all claimed that they had a legitimate expectation that the guidance set out in IR20 would be applied to them and as such, if they followed it, it gave them a binding assurance that they would not be treated as UK resident.
The decision
The Court of Appeal decided that a statement formally published by HMRC can be regarded as binding, subject to its terms, in relation to any case falling clearly within the terms of that statement. IR20 set out a limited number of specific situations in which a taxpayer would be treated as non-UK resident. If the taxpayer fell within those situations then HMRC had said that they would treat the taxpayer as falling within that guidance and would not resile from this. However, a taxpayer had to fall clearly with the terms of the guidance, Messrs Gaines-Cooper...
To continue reading
Request your trialGood news, we have found a currently active account with this email!
You can sign in here.
Forgot your password?
To reset your password, you can go here.
A verification link has been sent to your email account!
Please click on the link that has been sent to your email account to verify your email and continue the registration process.
We have found that your academic organisation currently subscribes to vLex.
To receive access to vLex:
- Please contact your resource manager to setup an account.
- If you have an email address with the organisation, please use that.
We have found that your organisation currently subscribes to vlex.
To receive access to vLex:
- Use the following link to sign up from your portal.
- Please contact your resource manager to setup an account.
- If you have an email address with the organisation, please use that.
OR
You can signup for an individual account here.
Subscribers can access the reported version of this case.
You can sign up for a trial and make the most of our service including these benefits.
There are many other reasons to subscribe.
-
Global Coverage
Access over 120 million legal information documents, including the largest collection of common law and civil law content on one intuitive and advanced service.
-
Updated with over 20,000 cases each month
Each month thousands of new cases and legal documents are added to vLex Justis, providing you with up-to-date content and a wider range of information to support your research.
-
AI-powered research
Are you confident your research is complete? Use our AI-powered tool, Vincent, to conduct truly comprehensive research, based on in-document search and analysis.
-
Know where to start your research
The only service to feature exclusive, comprehensive and up-to-date legal information from 130 jurisdictions. This includes the largest collections of common and civil law judgments, exclusive law reports, legislation, regulations, dockets, books, journals and international news.
Good news, we have found a currently active account with this email!
You can sign in here.
Forgot your password?
To reset your password, you can go here.
A verification link has been sent to your email account!
Please click on the link that has been sent to your email account to verify your email and continue the registration process.
We have found that your academic organisation currently subscribes to vLex.
To receive access to vLex:
- Please contact your resource manager to setup an account.
- If you have an email address with the organisation, please use that.
We have found that your organisation currently subscribes to vlex.
To receive access to vLex:
- Use the following link to sign up from your portal.
- Please contact your resource manager to setup an account.
- If you have an email address with the organisation, please use that.
OR
You can signup for an individual account here.
Subscribers are able to see a list of all the cited cases and legislation of a document.
You can sign up for a trial and make the most of our service including these benefits.
There are many other reasons to subscribe.
-
Global Coverage
Access over 120 million legal information documents, including the largest collection of common law and civil law content on one intuitive and advanced service.
-
Updated with over 20,000 cases each month
Each month thousands of new cases and legal documents are added to vLex Justis, providing you with up-to-date content and a wider range of information to support your research.
-
AI-powered research
Are you confident your research is complete? Use our AI-powered tool, Vincent, to conduct truly comprehensive research, based on in-document search and analysis.
-
Know where to start your research
The only service to feature exclusive, comprehensive and up-to-date legal information from 130 jurisdictions. This includes the largest collections of common and civil law judgments, exclusive law reports, legislation, regulations, dockets, books, journals and international news.
Good news, we have found a currently active account with this email!
You can sign in here.
Forgot your password?
To reset your password, you can go here.
A verification link has been sent to your email account!
Please click on the link that has been sent to your email account to verify your email and continue the registration process.
We have found that your academic organisation currently subscribes to vLex.
To receive access to vLex:
- Please contact your resource manager to setup an account.
- If you have an email address with the organisation, please use that.
We have found that your organisation currently subscribes to vlex.
To receive access to vLex:
- Use the following link to sign up from your portal.
- Please contact your resource manager to setup an account.
- If you have an email address with the organisation, please use that.
OR
You can signup for an individual account here.
Subscribers are able to see a list of all the documents that have cited the case.
You can sign up for a trial and make the most of our service including these benefits.
There are many other reasons to subscribe.
-
Global Coverage
Access over 120 million legal information documents, including the largest collection of common law and civil law content on one intuitive and advanced service.
-
Updated with over 20,000 cases each month
Each month thousands of new cases and legal documents are added to vLex Justis, providing you with up-to-date content and a wider range of information to support your research.
-
AI-powered research
Are you confident your research is complete? Use our AI-powered tool, Vincent, to conduct truly comprehensive research, based on in-document search and analysis.
-
Know where to start your research
The only service to feature exclusive, comprehensive and up-to-date legal information from 130 jurisdictions. This includes the largest collections of common and civil law judgments, exclusive law reports, legislation, regulations, dockets, books, journals and international news.
Good news, we have found a currently active account with this email!
You can sign in here.
Forgot your password?
To reset your password, you can go here.
A verification link has been sent to your email account!
Please click on the link that has been sent to your email account to verify your email and continue the registration process.
We have found that your academic organisation currently subscribes to vLex.
To receive access to vLex:
- Please contact your resource manager to setup an account.
- If you have an email address with the organisation, please use that.
We have found that your organisation currently subscribes to vlex.
To receive access to vLex:
- Use the following link to sign up from your portal.
- Please contact your resource manager to setup an account.
- If you have an email address with the organisation, please use that.
OR
You can signup for an individual account here.
Subscribers are able to see any amendments made to the case.
You can sign up for a trial and make the most of our service including these benefits.
There are many other reasons to subscribe.
-
Global Coverage
Access over 120 million legal information documents, including the largest collection of common law and civil law content on one intuitive and advanced service.
-
Updated with over 20,000 cases each month
Each month thousands of new cases and legal documents are added to vLex Justis, providing you with up-to-date content and a wider range of information to support your research.
-
AI-powered research
Are you confident your research is complete? Use our AI-powered tool, Vincent, to conduct truly comprehensive research, based on in-document search and analysis.
-
Know where to start your research
The only service to feature exclusive, comprehensive and up-to-date legal information from 130 jurisdictions. This includes the largest collections of common and civil law judgments, exclusive law reports, legislation, regulations, dockets, books, journals and international news.
Good news, we have found a currently active account with this email!
You can sign in here.
Forgot your password?
To reset your password, you can go here.
A verification link has been sent to your email account!
Please click on the link that has been sent to your email account to verify your email and continue the registration process.
We have found that your academic organisation currently subscribes to vLex.
To receive access to vLex:
- Please contact your resource manager to setup an account.
- If you have an email address with the organisation, please use that.
We have found that your organisation currently subscribes to vlex.
To receive access to vLex:
- Use the following link to sign up from your portal.
- Please contact your resource manager to setup an account.
- If you have an email address with the organisation, please use that.
OR
You can signup for an individual account here.
Subscribers are able to see a visualisation of a case and its relationships to other cases. An alternative to lists of cases, the Precedent Map makes it easier to establish which ones may be of most relevance to your research and prioritise further reading. You also get a useful overview of how the case was received.

There are many other reasons to subscribe.
-
Global Coverage
Access over 120 million legal information documents, including the largest collection of common law and civil law content on one intuitive and advanced service.
-
Updated with over 20,000 cases each month
Each month thousands of new cases and legal documents are added to vLex Justis, providing you with up-to-date content and a wider range of information to support your research.
-
AI-powered research
Are you confident your research is complete? Use our AI-powered tool, Vincent, to conduct truly comprehensive research, based on in-document search and analysis.
-
Know where to start your research
The only service to feature exclusive, comprehensive and up-to-date legal information from 130 jurisdictions. This includes the largest collections of common and civil law judgments, exclusive law reports, legislation, regulations, dockets, books, journals and international news.
Good news, we have found a currently active account with this email!
You can sign in here.
Forgot your password?
To reset your password, you can go here.
A verification link has been sent to your email account!
Please click on the link that has been sent to your email account to verify your email and continue the registration process.
We have found that your academic organisation currently subscribes to vLex.
To receive access to vLex:
- Please contact your resource manager to setup an account.
- If you have an email address with the organisation, please use that.
We have found that your organisation currently subscribes to vlex.
To receive access to vLex:
- Use the following link to sign up from your portal.
- Please contact your resource manager to setup an account.
- If you have an email address with the organisation, please use that.
OR
You can signup for an individual account here.
Subscribers are able to see the list of results connected to your document through the topics and citations Vincent found.
You can sign up for a trial and make the most of our service including these benefits.
There are many other reasons to subscribe.
-
Global Coverage
Access over 120 million legal information documents, including the largest collection of common law and civil law content on one intuitive and advanced service.
-
Updated with over 20,000 cases each month
Each month thousands of new cases and legal documents are added to vLex Justis, providing you with up-to-date content and a wider range of information to support your research.
-
AI-powered research
Are you confident your research is complete? Use our AI-powered tool, Vincent, to conduct truly comprehensive research, based on in-document search and analysis.
-
Know where to start your research
The only service to feature exclusive, comprehensive and up-to-date legal information from 130 jurisdictions. This includes the largest collections of common and civil law judgments, exclusive law reports, legislation, regulations, dockets, books, journals and international news.
Good news, we have found a currently active account with this email!
You can sign in here.
Forgot your password?
To reset your password, you can go here.
A verification link has been sent to your email account!
Please click on the link that has been sent to your email account to verify your email and continue the registration process.
We have found that your academic organisation currently subscribes to vLex.
To receive access to vLex:
- Please contact your resource manager to setup an account.
- If you have an email address with the organisation, please use that.
We have found that your organisation currently subscribes to vlex.
To receive access to vLex:
- Use the following link to sign up from your portal.
- Please contact your resource manager to setup an account.
- If you have an email address with the organisation, please use that.
OR
You can signup for an individual account here.