Netflix has released a trailer for its new Britney Spears documentary, which will air on Tuesday.
The teaser for Britney vs Spears begins with the singer saying: “I just want my life back”. The plea is taken from an audio recording of her June 23 testimony at the Los Angeles Superior Court, where she addressed a judge publicly for the first time.
While Netflix has not revealed who exactly is being featured in the documentary, it says that “journalist Jenny Eliscu and filmmaker Erin Lee Carr investigate Britney Spears's fight for freedom by way of exclusive interviews with former employees, attorneys and more.”
The streaming platform has also pitched Britney vs Spears as a “shocking timeline of old and new players, secret rendezvous and Britney’s behind the scenes fight for her own autonomy… Text messages and a voicemail as well as new interviews with key players make clear what Britney herself has attested: the full story has yet to be told.”
The trailer also claims that the documentary makers were granted access to a confidential report leaked by someone “very close” to the conservatorship.
A day prior to the trailer's release, Netflix shared an audio clip on Twitter in which Spears can be heard leaving a message for her lawyer in 2009.
The Netflix project has been in the works for more than a year and centres on Spears’s conservatorship battle, highlighting the unusual nature of the arrangement. As a legal expert says in the trailer for Britney vs Spears: “I’ve represented dozens of conservatees in court. Not one of them has ever had a job.”
“It’s an epic fail of the legal system that this has gone on so long,” says another.
The trailer points at the financial incentives enjoyed by Jamie Spears and lawyers in maintaining the conservatorship, as Spears is heard saying: “I’ve worked my whole life. I don’t owe these people anything.”
The singer will return to court on Wednesday for one of the most significant hearings in her long-running legal battle, as she continues to fight to be freed from her 13-year conservatorship. During her testimony in June, the singer detailed the level of control she has experienced as a result of the conservatorship, including being prevented from getting married and having a baby by being forced to keep in her IUD birth control device.
“Britney’s never had one person she could trust. Not mom. Not dad,” says one of Spears’s ex-boyfriends, celebrity photographer Adnan Ghalib, in the Netflix trailer.
While the singer hasn’t publicly commented on Netflix’s documentary, she has spoken negatively about the growing number of films being made about her life. “So many documentaries about me this year with other people's takes on my life ... what can I say … I’m deeply flattered! These documentaries are so hypocritical … they criticise the media and then do the same thing,” she wrote in an Instagram post in May 2021.
Timeline
2012-2015
The company offers payments/bribes to win key contracts in the Middle East
May 2017
The UK SFO officially opens investigation into Petrofac’s use of agents, corruption, and potential bribery to secure contracts
September 2021
Petrofac pleads guilty to seven counts of failing to prevent bribery under the UK Bribery Act
October 2021
Court fines Petrofac £77 million for bribery. Former executive receives a two-year suspended sentence
December 2024
Petrofac enters into comprehensive restructuring to strengthen the financial position of the group
May 2025
The High Court of England and Wales approves the company’s restructuring plan
July 2025
The Court of Appeal issues a judgment challenging parts of the restructuring plan
August 2025
Petrofac issues a business update to execute the restructuring and confirms it will appeal the Court of Appeal decision
October 2025
Petrofac loses a major TenneT offshore wind contract worth €13 billion. Holding company files for administration in the UK. Petrofac delisted from the London Stock Exchange
November 2025
180 Petrofac employees laid off in the UAE
Ten tax points to be aware of in 2026
1. Domestic VAT refund amendments: request your refund within five years
If a business does not apply for the refund on time, they lose their credit.
2. E-invoicing in the UAE
Businesses should continue preparing for the implementation of e-invoicing in the UAE, with 2026 a preparation and transition period ahead of phased mandatory adoption.
3. More tax audits
Tax authorities are increasingly using data already available across multiple filings to identify audit risks.
4. More beneficial VAT and excise tax penalty regime
Tax disputes are expected to become more frequent and more structured, with clearer administrative objection and appeal processes. The UAE has adopted a new penalty regime for VAT and excise disputes, which now mirrors the penalty regime for corporate tax.
5. Greater emphasis on statutory audit
There is a greater need for the accuracy of financial statements. The International Financial Reporting Standards standards need to be strictly adhered to and, as a result, the quality of the audits will need to increase.
6. Further transfer pricing enforcement
Transfer pricing enforcement, which refers to the practice of establishing prices for internal transactions between related entities, is expected to broaden in scope. The UAE will shortly open the possibility to negotiate advance pricing agreements, or essentially rulings for transfer pricing purposes.
7. Limited time periods for audits
Recent amendments also introduce a default five-year limitation period for tax audits and assessments, subject to specific statutory exceptions. While the standard audit and assessment period is five years, this may be extended to up to 15 years in cases involving fraud or tax evasion.
8. Pillar 2 implementation
Many multinational groups will begin to feel the practical effect of the Domestic Minimum Top-Up Tax (DMTT), the UAE's implementation of the OECD’s global minimum tax under Pillar 2. While the rules apply for financial years starting on or after January 1, 2025, it is 2026 that marks the transition to an operational phase.
9. Reduced compliance obligations for imported goods and services
Businesses that apply the reverse-charge mechanism for VAT purposes in the UAE may benefit from reduced compliance obligations.
10. Substance and CbC reporting focus
Tax authorities are expected to continue strengthening the enforcement of economic substance and Country-by-Country (CbC) reporting frameworks. In the UAE, these regimes are increasingly being used as risk-assessment tools, providing tax authorities with a comprehensive view of multinational groups’ global footprints and enabling them to assess whether profits are aligned with real economic activity.
Contributed by Thomas Vanhee and Hend Rashwan, Aurifer
