Interim dividends: when is an enforceable debt created for tax purposes?

In HMRC v Gould [2024] UKUT 00285, the Upper Tribunal confirmed that when a company pays an interim dividend to one shareholder without paying other shareholders of the same class, those other shareholders will have an enforceable debt against the company (subject to any agreement to the contrary.)  

This decision amounts to an important departure from the previously accepted principle that interim dividends are only enforceable and, therefore, taxable when paid to the individual shareholder.

Interim and final dividends