Our team of contentious tax experts are on hand to help with disputes from the earliest point of contact with HMRC (dealing with information notices, compliance checks, and enquiries) right through to appeals, hearings, alternative dispute resolution and penalty mitigation. We also handle tax-related professional negligence claims and claims for breach of tax warranty or covenant.
Our tax advisers (including chartered tax advisers) act for companies, high net worth individuals and other organisations in respect of direct and indirect tax matters. We are able to combine our significant tax technical expertise with strategic insight, and draw upon specialist input from commercial litigators, contentious insolvency practitioners and regulatory specialists in cases where a tax dispute dovetails with them, in order to provide a seamless and comprehensive service.
We recognise that our clients may already be supported by accountants or in-house finance teams, and welcome co-instructions. Even if you are already in good hands, this kind of collaboration and added legal expertise can help set the right tone with HMRC at the outset and ensure that statutory powers are not overreached. Our sole focus is to obtain the best possible outcome for our clients, in the most time- and cost-effective way, and we take care to nurture our relationship with any other advisers and external counsel to achieve this.
We recognise that dealing with tax disputes can be an unwelcome distraction from your daily focus. Therefore, whilst we are always ready to fight your corner, our aim is to offer pragmatic advice to resolve disputes without the need for protracted court proceedings wherever possible. With this in mind, our team includes mediators accredited by the Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution (CEDR), as well as solicitors with rights of audience before the higher courts.
Recent experience includes:
- defending Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme claims following HMRC challenge
- resolving a dispute as to whether transfer of a business as a going concern (TOGC) treatment had been correctly applied to a property sale
- handling claims for professional negligence against tax advisers, reaching satisfactory settlement at mediation without proceedings being issued
- making a successful hardship application and appealing to the tax tribunal in respect of VAT and customs duties
- mitigating penalty assessments and agreeing penalty suspension conditions with HMRC for a client with multiple historic tax mistakes
- acting for Ingenious Media (producer of major films such as Life of Pi and Avatar) in relation to one of the most high-profile and complex tax cases ever litigated in England.
“They are extremely knowledgeable, commercial and responsive.
