Introductory description

This module analyses the legal and policy issues behind the media headlines and, in
doing so, illuminates the questions relevant to practitioner and commentator alike. It is
therefore of considerable interest to students wishing to pursue a career in corporate and
commercial legal practice no less than those interested in the regulation of companies
more generally.

Module web page

Module aims

Outline syllabus

This is an indicative module outline only to give an indication of the sort of topics that may be covered. Actual sessions held may differ.

Company taxation: contexts, history and theories;

Company law: reserves and distributable profits;

Corporation tax;

Groups of companies – company law and tax;

Dividends in kind and maintenance of capital;

Company disposals and acquisitions; and Demergers.

Learning outcomes

By the end of the module, students should be able to:

• Understand how global economic factors, political and economic theory and national, European and global legal orders contribute to the shaping of UK corporate tax law. Gain thereby an in-depth knowledge of specific areas of UK corporate tax law.
• Appreciate how politics and political judgment, working in conjunction with economic theory, shape both the corporate tax code as a whole and its constituent parts. Understand the pressures on, and skills required of, a practitioner working with the UK corporate tax system. Reflect on the interaction between contractual documentation and statutory provisions in the application of corporate tax law to hypothetical factual situations.
• Identify and use, not only primary and secondary legal source materials, but also source materials from adjacent relevant disciplines. Assess current corporate tax debates in the light of national, European and global legal and ideological factors. Identify and use a range of legal scholarly skills, especially detailed statutory and case-law analysis and critical theoretical discussion.
• Evaluate the significance of neoliberal values in shaping corporate tax policy and the senses in which those values are embodied in the corporate tax code as a whole.
• Work independently on directed reading and seminar preparation so as to gain some of the knowledge, skills and analytical ability of a specialist in corporate tax law.
• Use internet and library sources with discrimination, discretion and circumspection, allowing for the effect of the passage of time on the law and on the relevance and currency of policy issues.

Indicative reading list

DRYSDALE, Corporation Tax 2012/2013 (Haywards Heath: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2014)
TILEY AND LOUTZENHISER, Advanced Topics in Revenue Law (Oxford: Hart Publishing, 2013)
SALTER, LEE AND SNAPE, Revenue Law: Text and Materials (Haywards Heath: Tottel, 2007)

Subject specific skills

No subject specific skills defined for this module.

Transferable skills

No transferable skills defined for this module.