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HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) are always on the lookout for unexplained cash earnings which have not been declared for tax. However, in one case, a former professional gambler was relieved of a six-figure Income Tax bill after convincing the First-tier Tribunal (FTT) that his wealthy lifestyle was funded by his non-taxable winnings. HMRC launched an investigation after noticing large amounts of cash being paid into the man's 10 bank accounts. On the basis that there was no reasonable explanation for those receipts, HMRC asserted that he had, over a...

Disputes with neighbours have a way of getting horribly out of hand, but legal advice taken at an early stage can help to draw the venom and save incalculable heartache and money in the long run. A case on point concerned flat dwellers who for years engaged in a titanic struggle over a few feet of garden. The dispute centred on the small front garden of a semi-detached house which had been split into two flats. It included a lightwell area, which enabled the sun's rays to penetrate the lower...

Those who engage in speculative litigation on the basis of weak evidence can expect to be hit hard in the pocket. In a case on point, a couple who sued a friendly architect after she provided them with free assistance in re-landscaping their garden found themselves on the receiving end of eye-watering legal costs bills. The couple and the architect were friends and former neighbours. She offered to help them gratuitously in transforming their garden. After the project was blighted by cost overruns and other difficulties, the couple launched professional...

Most people would consider it an honour to be chosen as executor of a friend's or relative's will. However, as a High Court ruling showed, the legal responsibilities that go with such a role can be extremely onerous and it usually makes better sense to appoint an experienced professional to assume the burden. The case concerned a businessman who died in 2007, leaving an estate which was at the time valued at about £18.5 million before tax. It had since emerged, however, that it might be worth up to £118...