Jeremy’s advisory practice covers a wide area of both direct and indirect tax issues and a mixture of contentious and advisory work. Contentious work includes negligence, judicial review and variation of trust act and rectification proceedings raising tax issues.
Jeremy is qualified to accept Public Access instructions.
Called 1986
Jeremy’s work includes the following:
Providing advice about and acting in disputes relating to:
Jeremy has appeared in three references in the Court of Justice in Luxembourg. He is a member of the Chartered Institute of Taxation (CIOT) indirect tax committee and chairs the indirect tax committee of CFE Tax Advisors Europe. He is also one of CFE Tax Advisors Europe’s representatives on the European Commission VAT expert group. Recent contentious work has included acting in disputes about VAT and customs duties on aircraft parts and in disputes about the VAT charges on cross-border professional services and the recovery of input tax on free legal services. He has also acted in MTIC disputes. He has provided advice on the availability of exemptions and the VAT consequences of property transactions and the VAT consequences of using crypto-currencies and e-tokens and making claims to recover overpaid VAT.
Contentious work has included acting on disputes about multiple dwellings relief and whether sales of property should be considered mixed use or residential and the extent to which goodwill on the sale of a business should be subject to SDLT. He has also acted for solicitors whose clients have claimed that they have received negligent advice on these issues. He has also provided advice about the SDLT and stamp duty consequences of proposed transactions including issues connected to corporate and partnership reorganisations and business incorporations and more generally on the SDLT consequences of acquiring property portfolios.
Jeremy regularly advises on inheritance tax and capital gains tax issues relating to lifetime gifts as well as tax planning on death. This includes drafting trusts, wills and deeds of appointment and providing advice about issues arising from the use of trusts and the availability of business property and agricultural property relief. He also advises in relation to planning on the family home. He was counsel in one of the leading reservation of benefit cases, IRC v Eversden. He also advises and has acted in disputes about individuals’ residence and domicile status and structuring investments by non-domiciled individuals in the United Kingdom.
Contentious work has recently included acting for individuals who have undertaken home loan schemes and other inheritance tax planning and disputes about the beneficial ownership of funds in bank accounts and the availability of the normal expenditure out of income exemption and tax charges on a farm whose ownership was disputed.
He also provides advice in relation to offshore trust and corporate structures. As chair of the CIOT EU and human right sub-committee Jeremy has an interest in EU law. While it remains relevant, his work has therefore included considering the compatibility of charges relates to offshore structures with the EU fundamental treaty freedoms and the availability of motive defences to income tax and capital gains tax charges. He has also more generally advised about the tax consequences of proposed reconstructions of offshore groups, including in the context of matrimonial proceedings.
Jeremy is chair of the CIOT European and Human Rights committee. Issues connected to tax and human rights have therefore been a long term interest of his. He was instructed in one of the first cases to address the issue of whether civil penalties should be considered criminal for the purposes of the European Convention of Human Rights and made a related application to the European Court of Human Rights, which held that there had been a breach of the Convention on account of undue delays. He also acted in a judicial review seeking a declaration of incompatibility in relation to retrospective SDLT Legislation. Other recent work has included acting for clients seeking to challenge advance payment notices and considering challenges to follower notices and acting for clients disputing claims that they have been guilty of deliberate conduct.
Abbey National -v- Commissioners of Customs and Excise (European Court of Justice): the scope of the exemption in Article 13B(d)(6) of the Sixth Directive for the management of special investment funds
My Travel plc (formerly Airtours plc) -v- Commissioners of Customs and Excise (European Court of Justice): tour operator’s margin scheme and apportionment of consideration
Commissioners of Customs and Excise -v- Pegasus Birds (CA): validity of best judgment assessment
Customs and Excise -v- Madgett & Baldwin (European Court of Justice): tour operator’s margin scheme and apportionment of consideration
Computeach International Limited: unjust enrichment
DenmanCollege: supplies of construction and services
Rasul v HMRC: validity of assessments
King -v- Walden: whether civil penalties are criminal for Human Rights purposes and issue estoppel on tax appeals
King -v- United Kingdom: application to the European Court of Human Rights: whether civil penalties are criminal and whether delay resulted in a breach of article 6 of the Convention
R (on the application of APVCO 19 Ltd) v HM Treasury (CA): compatibility of retrospective legislation with the European Court of Human Rights
Dunsten -v- Young Austen & Young: meaning of reorganisation
CIR -v- Burton: approval of share scheme
Pepper -v- Hart: use of Hansard/benefit in kind charge
Marriot -v- Lane: retirement relief
Edmunds -v- Coleman: new profession
R -v- IRC ex p Roux: removal of approval from pension scheme 3 of 6
HMRC -v- Household Estates: power to make further assessments
Talentcore -v-HMRC: agency workers
John Mander Pension Trustees Ltd v HMRC: validity of assessment made on retrospective loss of approval of a pension scheme
Castledine v HMRC: entrepreneurs’ relief
IRC -v- Eversden (CA): reservation of benefit on spouse exemptgifts
Annand v IRC: ownership of funds in bank accounts
Zamir and Woolf: The Declaratory Judgment (2nd, 3rd and 4th Edition)
DeSmith, Woolf & Jowell: Judicial Review of Administrative Action (5th Edition) (contributor of Chapter 23 on Revenue Law)
Halsbury’s Laws of England Vol 12(2) Customs and Excise (joint contributor)
DeVoil Indirect Tax Service (contributor)
Simon’s Direct Tax Service (contributor)
Civil Appeals (contributor to chapter on tax appeals)
Potter & Monroe (contributor)
Revenue Bar Association
CIOT indirect tax sub-committee
Chairman: CIOT EU and Human Rights sub-committee
Chair of the indirect tax sub-committee of CFE Tax Advisors Europe
CFE Tax Advisors Europe’s alternate representative on the European Commission’s VAT Expert Group
The CIOT’s alternate representative on the European Commission’s Expert Group on removing tax problems facing individuals who are active across borders within the EU
VAT Practitioners Group
London Common Law & Commercial Bar Association
Chancery Bar Association
Stamp Taxes Practitioners Group
Award of Certificate of Merit (Chartered Institute of Taxation)
Tax: Corporate
Ranking: Band 1
Senior junior with extensive experience in a range of complex corporate tax litigation and advisory mandates. He is particularly strong on income tax and employee benefit trusts issues. He is also knowledgeable about judicial reviews and tax-related human rights matters.
“Very thorough.” “Technically strong and very user-friendly.” (2019)
. . . “He has a detailed knowledge of tax law and an ability to size up a situation and deliver relevant, pertinent advice.” “Very user-friendly.” (2018)
. . . ”He is very client-friendly, almost impossibly nice and charming, and very tenacious. He will pull out all the stops and will work frighteningly hard to win.” (2017)
Tax: VAT
Ranking: Leading Junior, Tier 3
‘In court he is a softly spoken yet heavyweight advocate, who always impresses with his sound, erudite no-nonsense submissions.’ (2020)
‘He is admired for his knowledge of international tax issues.’ (2019)
‘Strikes a good rapport with judges and an absolute delight to work with.’ (2018)
Tax: Corporate
Ranking: Leading Junior, Tier 1
‘In court he is a softly spoken yet heavyweight advocate, who always impresses with his sound, erudite no-nonsense submissions.’ (2020)
‘He is an absolute delight to work with.’ (2019)
‘Confident even in the most challenging court situations.’ (2018)
Tax- Private Client: Personal Tax
Ranking: Leading Junior, Tier 3
‘A highly recommended junior.’ (2020)
‘Highly rated for SDLT.’ (2019)
‘Exceedingly strong; he cannot be recommended highly enough.’ (2018)
