HMRC wins court battle over £77m tax avoidance scheme

A medical research tax avoidance scheme, promoted by Matrix Securities, has been successfully challenged in court by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC).

HMRC said the court action against the Jersey-registered limited partnership, which claimed to be trading in the UK, had protected £80m. It said the partnership focused on creating and exploiting intellectual property from research into vaccines targeting diseases such as HIV, flu and hepatitis B. HMRC said 83 investors in the partnership used £28m of their own cash and £86m in bank loans. The partnership claimed a first-year trading loss of nearly £193m, creating £77m in tax relief. This would have given them an almost £50m return on their personal investments. However, HMRC speci...