In the case of Siobhan Fahy v The Revenue Commissioners [2023] IEHC 710 (Quinn J) the High Court considered a taxpayer’s appeal against Tax Appeals Commission (TAC) determination 139TACD2022 (which was considered in this article in Irish Tax Review, Issue 1 of 2023). The appellant carried on a solicitor’s practice (as a sole trader). She had made a payment of €220,000 to a company of which she was the 99% shareholder. The TAC held that the payment was not deductible as an expense of her solicitor’s practice. The Commissioner held as a material fact, on the basis of the evidence given by the appellant at the hearing, that “the appellant identified no benefit or gain to the solicitor’s trade (Fahy Law) for the expenditure incurred for services provided by MLG” and that the payment had been “motivated by the appellant’s desire to provide for and ameliorate her pension”; it followed that the payment was not made wholly and exclusively for the purposes of her trade and so had to be disallowed by s81(2)(a) TCA 1997.