Hong Kong Case Law: Decisions & Judgments | LexChat

Topic

Associated operations

Legal area

Court

12 Jul 2000

SHIU WING LTD. AND OTHERS v. THE COMMISSIONER OF ESTATE DUTY

Citation

SHIU WING LTD. AND OTHERS v. THE COMMISSIONER OF ESTATE DUTY
Court

Court of Final Appeal
Case number

FACV17/1999

The Court held the Ramsay principle did not justify recharacterising completed, genuine transfers for full consideration into gifts of Hong Kong property; the transactions, viewed realistically, converted Hong Kong assets into offshore specialty debts or foreign proceeds and therefore fell outside s.6(1)(c); quasi-sham and associated-operations arguments failed; accordingly the High Court declaration was restored and the appeal allowed.
20 Aug 1999

SHIU WING LTD. AND OTHERS v. THE COMMISSIONER OF ESTATE DUTY

Citation

SHIU WING LTD. AND OTHERS v. THE COMMISSIONER OF ESTATE DUTY
Court

Court of Appeal
Case number

CACV199/1998

By majority the Court held that the pre-ordained composite transactions contained intermediary steps that had no commercial purpose apart from avoidance of estate duty and therefore those steps were to be disregarded under the Ramsay principle; the true end result was an effective inter vivos disposition of Hong Kong-situate property to offshore trustees within three years of death and the transfers were chargeable to estate duty.