PwC Islamic Finance blog

Islamic finance: the tax adviser's role

“Tax Adviser” magazine is the journal of the Chartered Institute of Taxation, which is the professional body for chartered tax advisers. I was recently asked to write an article on Islamic finance, focusing on what it meant for tax advisers, which appeared as the cover feature for the September 2008 issue. It was co-authored by my colleague Imran Suleman, who is also a chartered tax adviser.

As most members would not be familiar with how Islamic finance is done in practice, the first part of the article explained how Muslims provide finance using structures such as murabaha, mudaraba, musharaka ijara and sukuk. It also covered how insurable risks are covered using takaful.

Sukuk proposed SDLT changes

The 4 July 2008 issue of Islamic Finance News contained my article “The UK Tax Law for Sukuk.” It outlined the capital gains tax and stamp duty land tax (SDLT) issues that can arise if a UK resident company wishes to raise finance with land and property using an ijarah sukuk structure. The article went on to cover the consultation document that HM Revenue & Customs had recently issued, which proposed changes to the tax law to address the SDLT issue.