After graduating in Mathematics from Durham in 2001, Hui Ling began her career in corporate finance at US investment bank Bear Stearns (fondly remembered). There she was admitted to the Securities & Investment Institute and received a solid grounding in accounting, finance and the 100-hour working week.

She was first attracted to the tax bar under the erroneous belief that it was all numbers and Perry Mason. Albeit wrong on both counts, she was nevertheless undeterred, converting to law in 2003 and subsequently excelling at Bar School where she won a quarter of all the academic prizes on offer, including first prize for Advocacy. 

Called to the bar by the Inner Temple in July 2005, Hui Ling completed pupillage in chambers in 2006. She has a broad revenue law practice covering all aspects of direct and indirect tax law, with an emphasis on VAT, CGT, business and corporate taxation and a particular interest in cases involving avoidance or abuse of rights issues.  She also has a strong private client practice focused primarily on offshore structuring and post-FA 2008 remittance basis planning. 

She has appeared in cases before the Chancery Division and Court of Appeal, as well as the Special Commissioners and VAT tribunal.  She has also acted in a variety of other disputes involving tax issues, including professional negligence actions, judicial review and insolvency proceedings in the Companies Court. Her practice is divided between advisory work and litigation but her particular love of a good argument meant that it was only a matter of time before she developed a passion for the latter. 

Hui Ling has served with the Officer Training Corps of the Territorial Army for 3 years. She has also run the 151-mile Marathon des Sables, rafted through the Amazon and swum the Channel in a relay, all of which she describes as “fun”, though noticeably only after the event.

Recommendations

Taxation Awards 2009 – shortlisted as Taxation’s Rising Star

Listed in Private Client Practitioner’s Top 35 Under 35

Recent Cases

Enersys Holdings UK Ltd v HMRC [2010] UKFTT 20 (TC) (First-tier Tribunal (Tax)) - disproportionality of VAT surcharge
Gillan & Anor (t/a Gracehill Golf Course v HMRC [2010] UKFTT 8 (TC) (First-tier Tribunal (Tax)) - whether services supplied under licence were VAT exempt supplies of land
Drummond v HMRC [2009] EWCA Civ 608 (Court of Appeal; 2009)
Sophie Holdings Ltd v HMRC [2009] UKFTT 88 (TC) and [2009] UKFTT 189 (TC) (First-tier Tribunal (Tax)) - s.73 VATA 1994 time limit for making assessments
Thomas John Crompton v HMRC [2009] UKFTT 71 (TC), [2009] STC (SCD) 504 (First -tier Tribunal (Tax)) - income tax treatment of compensation payment made by former employer
Underwood v HMRC [2008] EWCA Civ 1423 (Court of Appeal; 2008)
Drummond v HMRC [2008] EWHC 1758 (Ch) (High Court; 2008)
Underwood v HMRC [2008] EWHC 108 (Ch) (High Court; 2008)
Ashley v HMRC [2007] UKSPC SPC633 (Special Commissioners; 2007) – validity of a claim for EIS relief
Drummond v HMRC [2007] UKSPC SPC617 (Special Commissioners; 2007) – CGT treatment of losses arising on the disposal of second-hand life assurance policies
Underwood v HMRC [2007] UKSPC SPC614 (Special Commissioners; 2007) – CGT treatment of a sale and repurchase of land
The Trustees of the F D Fenston Will Trusts v HMRC [2007] UKSPC SPC 589 (Special Commissioners; 2007) – CGT treatment of capital contributions to a US company

Recent Work

VAT
Scope of the financial services exemption
The treatment of an exempt trader’s fees and legal costs
Reasonable excuse appeals (advice on the merits)
The constitutionality of draft VAT legislation
Issues relating to time limits and the validity of assessments

CGT
Consequences of the sale of shares in a private UK company to a US-listed corporation
The treatment of earn-outs and QCBs/non-QCBs
The treatment of employment-related securities
Pre- and post- 6 April 2008 planning involving offshore trusts and companies

Business/Corporate tax
Availability of group relief
Tax treatment of inter-company loans
Loan relationships
Employee Benefit Trusts

Other
Individual domicile and residence
Capital v. revenue expenditure
The POAR and GWRB regimes: estate planning involving partitioning land
Disclosure under s.20 TMA and legal advice privilege
The treatment of a lump sum payment made under a retirement benefit scheme
The taxability of termination payments

Publications

Include:

General Editor of Private Client Business (Sweet & Maxwell)

Contributor to VAT Commentary and Analysis – chapters on Charities and Local Authorities, Internet Transactions, Telecommunications (Sweet & Maxwell 2009)
A Principal Editor of Whiteman & Sherry on CGT (Sweet & Maxwell 2008)
Contributor to Copinger and Skone James on Copyright (Sweet & Maxwell 2007)
Protected Cell Companies and the Taxation of Chargeable Gains Act 1992 Section 13 ([2009] P.C.B. Issue. 5, 316)
Abuse of Rights: The Effect of the Doctrine on VAT Planning ([2007] BTR No. 2 160)
Tax Penalties - Convention Compliant? (Tax Journal, April 2009)
VAT ‘Abuse of Rights’: Imposing limits (Tax Journal, November 2008)
Dextra: the sequel (Taxation, October 2008)
The Future of UK Tax: Global Developments and UK Competitiveness (Tax Journal, August 2008)
Planning gain supplement – Where are we now? (Taxation, January 2008)
Tax Appeals practice notes (PLCTAX November 2007)
Anti-avoidance Caselaw & Tax practice notes: Direct Tax & Stamp Duty, and VAT (PLCTAX November 2007)
Planning Ahead: the Future Development of Key Worker and Affordable Housing (Consilio; 27/11/2003) – government proposals on housing development and section 106 TCPA 1990

Conferences

Include:

Direct Tax Planning: HMRC's and the Courts Approach to Avoidance (CIOT, January 2010)
VAT Partial Exemption: Apportionment Methods and Case Law Implications (Oxford University Centre for Business Taxation, December 2009)
Inheritance tax planning: Trusts, insurance and alternatives (CIOT, November 2009)
The Non-Dom Regime – one year on (STEP City of London Branch, June 2009)
Contentious VAT (LexisNexis, March 2009)
Substance over Form?  The Courts’ approach to tax planning (IBC, March 2009)
The Non-Doms: Living with the new UK rules (ITPA, November 2008)
VAT in Financial Services & Insurance (LexisNexis/BLP, November 2008)
Corporate Transactions & the New CGT Regime (Longmark, October 2008)
Managing the Challenges in Tax Litigation (VAT Litigation – Redressing the Balance - LexisNexis, April 2008)
The Relationship between Tax and Accountancy (AIMS, March 2008)
Tax in Corporate Transactions (Buying and Selling) (Lowe Gordon, February 2008)
Taking a Tax Appeal (AIMS, November 2007)
Planning Reform: A Future without Planning Inquiries, s.106 Agreements – or Lawyers? (King’s College Construction Law Association, November 2007)

Professional Memberships

Member of the CIOT’s CGT and Investment Income sub-committee

Association of Tax Technicians – Associate (ATT)
Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment – Chartered Member (Chartered MCSI)
Securities & Futures Authority – Qualified Representative

Member of the Revenue and Chancery Bar Associations and the VAT Practitioners Group