Barclays Bank Plc & Anor v HM Revenue & Customs

The expression “in connection with” must be construed in its statutory context. It ordinarily encompasses direct and indirect connections. The same payment or matter may be connected with more than one thing unless the competing connections are mutually exclusive.

Once the required connection is established, another factor or connection will not ordinarily displace it. A payment made to every member of a class is likely to have been made in connection with membership of that class.

The Court of Appeal considered the meaning and scope of the expression “in connection with” in statutory provisions not identified in the supplied text. The underlying facts, the legislation in issue, the decision below and the procedural path to the Court of Appeal are not stated.

The central issue recorded in the supplied text was how a statutory connection should be identified where it might be direct or indirect, or where the relevant matter might have more than one connection.

The disposition of the appeal is not stated in the supplied text. The Court of Appeal’s reasoning on the expression “in connection with” was recorded as follows:

1. The expression must be construed by reference to the provision in which it appears and the surrounding provisions of the statutory scheme. Its scope therefore depends on context rather than an invariably fixed formula.

2. A qualifying connection may be direct or indirect. The expression will ordinarily be capable of encompassing both forms of connection.

3. A matter may be connected with more than one other thing. The court must determine whether those connections can coexist or whether, in the statutory context, one connection excludes the other.

4. Once the relevant connection has been established, it is unlikely to be displaced merely because another factor or connection is also present. The existence of an additional connection does not ordinarily negate the first.

5. A payment made to every member of a class is likely to have been made in connection with that class. Class-wide distribution is therefore capable of evidencing the necessary connection.

The supplied text does not identify the statutory provisions construed, the individual judgments delivered, any division between the members of the court, or the Court of Appeal’s formal order.

not stated in the judgment.