Graham Aaronson practises exclusively in commercial taxation, with extensive experience both in advisory work and in litigation through to the Supreme Court and the ECJ. For many years he has concentrated on a number of particular areas of commercial taxation – especially complex transfer pricing disputes, the UK taxation of multinationals, and oil taxation. He is currently the lead Counsel for the claimants in 5 of the 6 ongoing EU law based “Group Litigation Order” corporate tax actions against HMRC. A substantial proportion of his time is devoted to dispute resolution, whether preparing and conducting litigation or advising on the strategy and tactics for achieving a successful resolution of disputes through negotiation or mediation. His client base comprises virtually all of the multinationals with operations in the UK. Instructions are often direct from the largest companies as well as through all of the big 4 accountancy firms and most of the major law firms.
Called 1966, Middle Temple
Bencher 1991
QC 1982
Managing director Bridgend Group Plc 1972-77
Policy adviser on tax reform Treasury State of Israel 1986-88
Chairman Tax Law Review Committee 1994-97
Chairman Revenue Bar Association 1995-98
Hoechst AG v IRC; Marks & Spencer v Halsey; BMBF v Mawson; Scottish Provident Institution v IRC; Loss Relief GLO; Treaty Credits GLO; FII GLO; Thin Cap GLO; CFC and Dividends GLO; HSBC v Stubbs; Mars UK Ltd v Small, William Grant & Sons Distillers Ltd v IRC.
Revenue Bar Association
City of London School
Trinity Hall, Cambridge (1968 MA)
Corporate Tax
Ranking: Leading Silks, Star Individual
Graham Aaronson is "one of the most experienced, knowledgeable and respected tax silks" in the market, who is noted for his excellent performances in the higher courts. Aaronson is the first port of call for many of the largest multinational companies, and is renowned expert on transfer pricing and the application of EU law to the UK tax code. Of late he has been involved in a number of highly important Group Litigation Order (GLO) cases including the Franked Investment Income GLO, the Thin Cap GLO, and the Dividends and CFC GLO (2013)
Star performer Graham Aaronson QC is regarded by the market as a "technically supremely able" practitioner. He has taken a lead role for the set in many of the most significant GLOs that have taken place in the past year and, as such, remains one of the strongest tax litigators at the Bar when it comes to major complex disputes (2012)
Graham Aaronson QC is "very clever, creative and talented especially on EU matters", sources say. He frequently handles heavyweight corporate tax disputes and has broad-based expertise in relation to the taxation of multinationals in the UK, transfer pricing, petroleum revenue tax, structured finance transactions and the application of EU law to the UK tax code. He is known as "the best there is in terms of advocacy", and has been instructed by major corporations, accountants and law firms (2011)
Tax: Corporate and VAT
Ranking: Corporate Tax: Leading Silk, 1st tier
'Has particular expertise in taxation issues affecting multinationals' (2012)
Graham Aaronson QC is 'in a league of his own' (2011)
‘One of the go-to silks for heavy duty EU tax work' and 'incredibly experienced tax barrister' (2010)
