Philip Moser KC > Monckton Chambers > London, England > Barrister Profile

Monckton Chambers is praised as a ‘leading set for VAT’ and other indirect tax matters, and the set’s expertise in EU and public law enables its members to handle a wide range of complex cases for both taxpayers and HMRC. Melanie Hall KC has significant experience advising clients in the financial services sector. Of recent note, she was instructed by the taxpayer in E-Zec Medical Transport Services Ltd v HMRC, which concerned the refusal of HMRC to allow private ambulance operators to claim zero-rate VAT. Philip Moser KC has notable expertise in EU-related tax, VAT, and customs matters, in addition to VAT fraud. Valentina Sloane KC also has an impressive case load, and is representing Fenix International – operator of OnlyFans, a subscription content platform primarily used by sex workers –  in one of the last British to reach the European Court of Justice, concerning if VAT should be charged on the full cost of content, or on the part of it which is the platform’s fee.

Monckton Chambers is home to a team of ‘highly talented practitioners‘ in the public procurement arena. Recent work for the group includes Philip Moser KC appearing for orthodontic company Braceurself in seeking permission to appeal against the judgment made by the High Court in Braceurself Limited v NHS England, concerning a procurement process made by the NHS for orthodontic services. The key issue of the case was that although the contracting authority was found to have committed a committed a manifest error of assessment in its scoring of Braceurself’s tender and, absent the error, the claimant would have won the tender. However, the breach was not considered ‘sufficiently serious’ to warrant an award for damages to be made to the claimant. The claimant was granted permission to appeal the judgment to the Court of Appeal. In a separate matter, Brendan McGurk KC, unled, successfully acted for technology provider Bromcom in a challenge to the award of a contract for the supply of a Cloud Management Information System to a prominent education charity.