In this article, the January monthly update review for Tax Journal, Edward Reed and Andy Carruthers look at a number of private client developments.

This month, we comment on a couple of taxpayer victories concerning the income tax treatment of dividends: in Gould, the FTT held that an interim dividend was taxable when actually paid, rather than declared; in Jays, a similar finding held that part of a dividend declared but not actually paid did not trigger tax. Hopes v Burton continues the trend of taxpayers being able to rely on the doctrine of mistake to remedy transactions where unforeseen tax consequences arise. Futcher acts as a timely reminder that difficult personal circumstances will not necessarily constitute a "reasonable excuse" or "special circumstances" to avoid penalties on the late filing of a personal tax return.

Two further SDLT cases, Withers and Ridgway, continue the tribunals' exploration of what constitutes "mixed use".

Finally, we note the continued plethora of HMRC nudge letter campaigns.

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