Expert Witness Journal Issue 65 February 2026 - Flipbook - Page 62
SKAT vs Solo
by Expert Evidence
Summary
Cum-ex schemes
This case represents the long-awaited verdict in a
legal battle which has run for almost a decade and is
one of the highest value civil cases ever heard in the
UK. It is undoubtedly a huge blow for the Danish tax
authorities, but demonstrates that if legal loopholes
are left open, then they can be exploited, a lesson
they have learned at great 昀椀nancial cost.
Cum-ex schemes 昀椀rst appeared in the aftermath of
the 2008 crash and steadily spread across Europe.
They are transactions where shares were sold from
one party to another just before the payment of
a dividend, known as ‘cum dividend’, e昀昀ectively
with dividend, but delivered to the other party
afterwards, so ex-dividend.
Background
The timing of these transactions was designed to
exploit confusion over who actually owned the
shares at the time of the dividend being paid out
to shareholders. By using this timing delay, both
parties were able to claim rebates on withholding
tax. This tax was initially paid once, when the
dividend was 昀椀rst issued, and it is clear that these
schemes were carried out with the sole purpose of
generating multiple refunds of a tax which had only
been paid once.
In October 2025, Denmark’s tax authority,
Skatteforvaltningen (‘SKAT‘) lost its £1.44 billion
London based lawsuit against Solo Capital Partners
and others (the ‘Defendants‘), which 昀椀rst began in
2018. SKAT argued that large amounts of money
had been falsely claimed in tax rebates as part of
what are now known as “cum-ex schemes“.
“
Nothing is too good to be true.”
From this starting point, those involved in such
schemes created ever more elaborate trades to
exploit this arrangement, costing taxpayers in
Europe billions 昀椀nancially. Whilst many European
countries were targeted to exploit this arrangement,
Solo focused primarily on Denmark from 2013
onwards.
Ernest Holmes
SKAT alleged that Solo Capital Partners (‘Solo‘),
run by Sanjay Shah, was responsible for most of
these claims. Solo was a hedge fund established in
2009 by Mr Shah, with the head o昀케ce in London and
a further o昀케ce in Dubai.
EXPERT WITNESS JOURNAL
60
FEBRUARY 2026
