HMRC’s budget-busting battle

A controversial court case starting next month could force HM Revenue & Customs to pay tens of billions of pounds in tax refunds to big businesses. Alex Rankine reports.

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Frederick and David Barclay are holding out for £1.2bn from HMRC
(Image credit: Copyright (c) 1999 Rex Features. No use without permission.)

A controversial court case starting next month could force HM Revenue & Customs to paytens of billions of pounds in tax refunds to big businesses. Alex Rankine reports.

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Markets editor

Alex is an investment writer who has been contributing to MoneyWeek since 2015. He has been the magazine’s markets editor since 2019. 

Alex has a passion for demystifying the often arcane world of finance for a general readership. While financial media tends to focus compulsively on the latest trend, the best opportunities can lie forgotten elsewhere. 

He is especially interested in European equities – where his fluent French helps him to cover the continent’s largest bourse – and emerging markets, where his experience living in Beijing, and conversational Chinese, prove useful. 

Hailing from Leeds, he studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics at the University of Oxford. He also holds a Master of Public Health from the University of Manchester.