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HMRC’s consultation on distributions: capital repayments and the end of the “New HoldCo” scheme? In the first post in this series, Zoe Andrews described HMRC’s consultation on modernising the taxation of distributions and repayments of capital from companies as a possible “fundamental reset”.  Part of that involves HMRC’s proposals on repayments of...
Cyber Updates for Your Radar It’s been a busy time in the world of cyber. The fallout from Anthropic’s Mythos model continues (see our April blog) with new regulatory AI guidance, and the ICO has continued its cyber-fining streak, while the EU has developed new cyber reporting...
Closer scrutiny: how the distributions consultation targets close companies While HMRC’s consultation on modernising the distributions rules looks only at income tax (and not corporation tax) treatment, this post focuses on the elements that apply specifically to close companies (many of the other proposals will affect individual...
Tax-exempt demergers: relaxing the rules with some strings attached Amongst the more (generally) positive proposed changes being considered as part of HMRC's consultation on modernising the distributions rules are those relating to the statutory demergers code in Chapter 5 of Part 23 of Corporation Tax Act 2010. Designed...
Hong Kong’s cybercrime “reset”: a five‑offence blueprint for reform Hong Kong is overhauling its fragmented cybercrime regime. In response to an increasingly complex threat landscape, driven by AI‑enabled attacks, growing reliance on digital infrastructure, and the cross‑border nature of cyber activity, the Law Reform...
First court case win for AI-powered law firm The use of AI in Court proceedings has hit the headlines for the wrong reasons recently. Pinsent Masons found itself in the spotlight before the High Court in Cork v Smith [2026] after misleading the court based on search results produced by an AI system...
CMA settles second drip pricing investigation with its direct enforcement toolkit Following the announcement last week of a settlement with Marks Electrical, the CMA has now announced a settlement with StubHub UK for its use of drip pricing. This is the third enforcement action from the CMA under the Digital Markets, Competition and...
HMRC’s consultation on distributions: A fundamental reset? Never a dull day in Tax! HMRC’s consultation on modernising the taxation of distributions and repayments of capital from companies, which appeared on 23 June 2026, was quite a surprise and could fundamentally change how share buybacks, demergers and...
CMA settles with Marks Electrical over investigation into pre-selected extra charges The CMA has ordered appliances retailer Marks Electrical to refund around £600,000 to nearly 40,000 customers and pay a £720,000 fine for automatically opting customers into paid extra services without their consent in breach of UK consumer protection...
A Look at the Annex 1 and 3 EU AI Act Guidelines on High-Risk Systems On 19 May 2026, the Commission published draft guidelines on the classification of high-risk AI systems. In our previous blog we provided an overview of what the guidelines encompass. In this blog, we examine the key takeaways from the draft Annex 1 and...