Penny and Hooper case to go to the Supreme Court
Two Christchurch orthopaedic surgeons are to appeal in the Supreme Court against a ruling last month which found the combination of company and trust structures they used to minimise their income amounted to tax avoidance.
The surgeons Ian Penny and Gary Hooper lodged their application to appeal in the Supreme Court on Monday and a date has yet to be set for the case.
The Inland Revenue Department has been at pains to point out throughout the case and in its subsequent advice to tax practitioners that it was not the structures themselves that were at fault but the way they were used by Penny and Hooper.
However Hooper says the Court of Appeal's ruling relied more on moral criticism than on legal precedents and the law is still unclear.
The two have had a great deal of support from other professionals, he says, and despite earlier indications they may drop the issue, they have decided the uncertainty in the law means an appeal is necessary.
"With the [earlier] High Court decision and the split decision in the Court of Appeal this is two judges for, two judges against us," he said.
"It seems to me the Court of Appeal wasn't unanimous and the ruling by the judges that found against us was couched at a moralistic level rather than the letter of the law.
"There's a lot of people backing us - a lot of people are likely to suffer if this case is not won so we decided to take it to the final body to try to get some clarity."
Comments from our readers
No comments yet Add your comment:
Other Ways to Access News
|
Contact Us 
