Tax law

Tax issues are faced by everyone from the largest multinational enterprises to individuals whose assets exceed the value of the inheritance tax nil rate band. As a result, a broad range of work is available to a tax barrister, who may have to advise in many different contexts, dealing with various types of client.

A tax law barrister’s work

There are numerous taxes, all of which are structured in different ways and subject to amendment in each year’s Finance Act (or, indeed, more frequently). As a result, most tax barristers will tend to specialise over time. Working days can range from advising the finance director of a listed company in conference as to how to structure a takeover in a taxefficient way, to writing an opinion on an inheritance tax planning idea, to representing the taxpayer or Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) in litigation, either before the specialist tax tribunal or on appeal before the higher courts.

What’s new in tax law?

Tax practice was, traditionally, seen as being focused on advice. In recent years, however, litigation has come to play an increasingly important part of the typical tax barrister’s practice. This is the result, in particular, of HMRC’s Litigation and Settlement Strategy, which has seen a much greater proportion of cases come to court. Contentious work in tax can range from arguing points of statutory construction by reference to facts that are largely (or even entirely) agreed – taking a day to two days – through to fact-heavy, lengthy hearings that can take several weeks, including many days of witness evidence. Because tax cases usually turn on points of law and in many cases involve substantial sums of money, a disproportionately large number of tax cases are subject to appeal before the higher courts.

Practising as a tax barrister requires in-depth knowledge of many other areas of law, particularly contract law, company law and trusts law. European Community law has come to have an enormous impact on the UK tax code in recent years, and is becoming a vital feature of a tax barrister’s practice. This can be seen from the numerous tax-related group litigation orders (GLOs) of recent years. These have concerned issues such as the compatibility of aspects of UK corporation tax with EU law and the availability of compound interest on claims for the recovery of overpaid tax, as can be seen from, for example, Sempra Metals and the VAT Interest Cars (VIC) GLO (Chalke v. HMRC).

Is tax law recession-proof?

The nature of tax issues is such that there is always likely to be demand for tax advice and for specialist representation in tax litigation.

What skills do tax law barristers need?

• It is important to be able to reason logically and to absorb the detailed legal rules and principles that are applicable.
• Most importantly, however, it is necessary to be able to stand back from the detailed rules and deliver a commercially realistic solution to a client (if advising), or put a complex point in a simple and attractive way to a judge (if litigating).

Tax law pupillages

A tax barrister can have considerable choice in terms of working hours and the type of work undertaken. Pupils generally work on their pupil supervisor’s papers and will learn from the approach that their pupil supervisor takes. Working hours for pupils in tax chambers are generally civilised, rarely extending into weekends.

Types of law practised

• Company.
• Contract.
• European.
• Contract.

Jonathan Bremner is a barrister at Pump Court Tax Chambers. He studied law at Oxford University.