Members of Chambers can be instructed both to give tax advice and to conduct tax appeals and other tax-related litigation. We are often instructed directly by accountants, under the Licensed Access scheme, previously known as “Bar Direct”.

We appear in tax appeals argued before the Commissioners, the VAT Tribunal, the High Court, the Court of Appeal, the House of Lords, the Privy Council and the European Court of Justice and, in special circumstances, in Hong Kong. We give advice on the tax aspects of a wide variety of domestic and international transactions and issues. It is our habit to discuss amongst ourselves difficult points of law arising in all these matters, and our wide experience enables us to offer the most current, accurate and practical tax advice.

For advisory work, particularly where major transactions are in contemplation, it is common to instruct a tax barrister at the early planning stages. For contentious work, a barrister may be instructed at any stage right up to a hearing before a tribunal, the Commissioners, or the Court. However, it is almost always beneficial to instruct a barrister at the early stages of correspondence: in this way, a dispute between the taxpayer and HM Revenue & Customs may often be resolved satisfactorily, without the need for protracted correspondence or a court hearing.

Like other barristers' chambers, we are not a firm or a partnership: each member of Gray's Inn Tax Chambers has his or her own personal practice. But in more complex matters it is generally cost-effective to instruct a junior barrister along with a senior one. This is also true in litigation, where a QC (Queen’s Counsel) will commonly be assisted by a junior.

The choice of barrister for a particular matter is best made in consultation with the clerks, normally by telephone.

For a Guide to the Tax Appeal Process in the United Kingdom click here.

Licensed Access Rules for qualified persons other than solicitors.

Liability for the fees

The professional who instructs counsel (typically an accountant) is known as the “licensed access client” and is liable for a barrister’s fee due in respect of work carried out by the barrister under any instructions. Even in a case where the matter concerns a lay client, the licensed access client is solely and exclusively liable to the barrister for the fees whether or not the lay client puts the licensed access client is funds. In this regard:

(1) The relationship between the barrister and the licensed access client is a contractual one.

(2) Any individual giving or purporting to give the instructions on behalf of any partnership, firm, company, individual or other person warrants to the barrister that he is authorised by the latter to do so.

(3) If the licences access client is a partnership or a firm of unincorporated association, the liability of the partners or members and on death that of their estates for the barrister’s fees is joint and several.

(4) Neither the sending by a licensed access client of instructions to a barrister nor the acceptance of those instructions by a barrister nor anything done in connection therewith nor the terms governing Licensed Access nor any arrangement or transaction entered into under them shall give rise to any contractual relationship rights duties or consequences whatsoever either (i) between the barrister or the General Council of the Bar and any lay client or (ii) between the General Council of the Bar and the licensed access client.

Money Laundering Regulations 2007– Client Identification Procedure

In accordance with guidelines issued by the Bar Council and the Revenue Bar Association, we are required to ask all UK or foreign lawyers or regulated professionals who instruct a member of Chambers to confirm in writing that they have confirmed the identity of the client in accordance with the relevant money laundering regulations.