HMRC appealed against a decision at the Upper Tribunal that the respondent GE Financial Investments (GEFI), a UK incorporated company and part of US multinational General Electric, was a resident of the US for the purposes of the US/UK double tax convention.

The issue related to a claim for double tax relief in respect of US tax paid on GEFI’s interest income for the accounting periods ended 31 December 2003 to 31 December 2008 inclusive.

At the heart of the argument was GEFI’s tax position after it restructured the UK-based dormant business in 2003 to set up an incorporated company and to form a limited partnership in the US state of Delaware, effectively creating a ‘stapled entity’.

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