Corporation tax - deductibility of costs of advice re share buy back
I advised a client on the buy back of own shares, obtaining confirmation by HMRC that they accepted capital treatment for the vendor on disposal. HMRC thereby confirmed that they accepted that the reason for the buy back was to benefit the trade. Am I right in thinking that my advice is therefore deductible for CT purposes? As a separate question, could I argue that Stamp Duty on the actual buy back was deductible?
Benefitting the trade...
... and being wholly and exclusively for the purposes of the trade are two entirely different things. One of the purposes of the share purchase was to enable the withdrawing shareholder to withdraw, another purpose was probably to protect the remaining shareholders from external investors coming in, one of the purposes had to be to benefit the trade (but it was by no means the only purpose). HMRC frequently resist such claims.
The stamp duty is also capital in nature to boot.