A company remains a separate juristic entity from its...

A company remains a separate juristic entity from its shareholders, and share ownership does not itself confer ownership of the company's assets or income. On the facts, the shareholders had invested through permitted banking channels, while the company borrowed funds, acquired the properties, earned rental income and realised capital gains on sale. The Revenue could not, in the absence of statutory authority, assess the company's rental income, capital gains and other income in the hands of the shareholders by invoking substance over form or piercing the corporate veil. Fiscal liability must rest on the statute, and the Tribunal's view was affirmed; the additions were held unsustainable and the Revenue's appeals were dismissed.

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