Awards

Legal 500 UK Bar Awards win – extra tab on our microsite, in which we can speak on our experience in our winning practice area & any developments in the last 12 months.

With some of the most experienced tax advisors and litigators at the Bar, our tax team is perfectly placed to deal with all areas of tax impacting both corporate and private clients.  Our members act for the taxpayer, as well as for the government, with twelve members on the Attorney General’s panel of junior counsel. 

All of our barristers have an excellent reputation for combining in-depth analytical expertise, an ability to deal with highly complex issues, robust advocacy and advisory services, and skill in offering clear and practical advice to professional and lay clients.

Given our expertise in Devereux’s other core areas of law, such as employment, fraud and professional negligence, our barristers are ideally placed to advise on the cross-over of tax with any of these areas.

Our team has unrivalled expertise at the bar for employment related tax matters. Our members are often the first port of call for issues relating to employment status, advising on the IR35 regulations for example, and have been involved in some of the leading cases in this field. We also have a wealth of expertise on matters relating to Employee Benefit Trusts.

In particular, Devereux is recognised for first-class advice and litigation concerning all tax issues relating to:

• Companies, partnerships and other unincorporated businesses
• Taxation of private individuals (Income Tax, Capital Gains Tax, Inheritance Tax)
• Employment and service provisions (including “IR35” issues)
• Residence and Domicile (individual and corporates)
• Trusts and foundations
• Pension funds
• Charities
• Real estate
• Structured tax planning
• Statutory investigation powers and assessment procedures (civil or criminal)
• VAT, Customs Duties and other indirect taxes
• Stamp Duty, Stamp Duty Land Tax and Stamp Duty Reserve Tax

Recent notable cases over the last 12 months have included:

• Pertemps Limited v HM Revenue & Customs [2018] UKFTT 0369 (TCC): No taxable supply on salary sacrifice adjustment
• SSE Generation Ltd v HM Revenue & Customs [2018] UKFTT 416 (TC):  FTT allowed the appeal in part, finding that most of the relevant items qualified for capital allowances under the Capital Allowances Act (CAA) 2001
• Professional Game Match Officials v HM Revenue & Customs [2018] UKFTT 528 (TC), [2018] UKFTT B1 (TC): landmark decision for umpires across all sporting codes, the specialist First-tier Tribunal (Tax Chamber) has decided that ‘National Group’ referees in the Premier League, FA Cup and Football League are self-employed
• AN Checker v HMRC [2018] UKUT 292 (TCC): Successful in the Upper Tribunal in the VAT appeal
• Nader and others v HMRC [2018] UKFTT 294 (TC). Successful challenge to an inheritance tax avoidance ‘death-bed’ scheme involving excluded property trusts
• Christa Ackroyd Media LTD v HMRC TC/2016/04992: the first of a series of appeals concerning the application of the intermediaries legislation (IR35)
• R (Haworth) v HM Revenue & Customs [2018] EWHC 1271 (Admin): High Court dismisses challenge to follower notice
• R (Amrolia) v HM Revenue & Customs [2018] EWHC 1688 (Admin): High Court rejects judicial review of recovery of provisional tax repayments
• HMRC v Higgins [2018] UKUT 280 (TCC): Upper Tribunal determined a point of law on the application of principal private residence relief (PPRR)
• Banks v HMRC [2018] UKFTT 617: an appeal by the UKIP donor that inheritance tax rules were a breach of his human rights. FTT found that IHTA 1984 s 24 was incompatible with the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR) but dismissed the appeal on the basis that it did not have jurisdiction to rewrite the provision
• Executors of the estate of Charles Deville v HMRC, in which the appellant sought to argue (unsuccessfully) that the jurisdiction of the first-tier tribunal allowed it to hear public law challenges
• J Dickinson and others v HMRC [2018] EWCA Civ 2798 CA: Court of Appeal upheld the High Court’s decision not to grant judicial review of APNs (FA 2014 s 219) issued by HMRC
• R (on the application of Derry) (Respondent) v Commissioner for Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (Appellant) UKSC 2017/0127: Respondent issued judicial review proceedings arguing that the incorrect procedures and provisions had been relied on to open the enquiries undertaken by HMRC into his tax returns
• Root2Tax – Judicial Review proceedings: Appellants refused permission to appeal to the Court of Appeal
• Sole tax counsel due to appear in the Supreme Court on behalf of the taxpayer in Routier v HMRC [April 2019]
• Knibbs v HMRC: Sole tax counsel appearing on behalf of HMRC in the Court of Appeal in 2019. HMRC was successful below; this is a hearing of the Claimants’ appeal (a claim involving more than 500 claimants)

Diversity

Devereux has a friendly workplace culture and professional work ethic. We are an equal opportunities employer and are fully committed to providing equality of opportunity and to eliminating discrimination on grounds of race including colour, ethnic or national origins, gender, marital status, sex, sexual orientation, religion or belief, age and disability.

We believe it is important to support charities, offer pro-bono work and contribute to the legal community in general where and whenever possible.

Since 2019, 20 Devereux members have provided pro bono services across the employment, tax, and personal injury practice areas.

Devereux is a long standing supporter of Advocate, “the Bar’s national charity”. Advocate “match members of the public who need free legal help with barristers who are willing to donate their time and expertise in deserving cases for those who are unable to obtain legal aid and cannot afford to pay.” Devereux supports this charity both financially and by reviewing and undertaking pro bono cases for those in need.

Devereux is a member of Pro Bono Connect, a project set up to establish a network of barristers and solicitors willing to work together on pro bono cases for individuals, charities and community groups who cannot afford to pay for legal advice/representation and for whom public or alternative means of funding are not reasonably available.

Devereux participates in the Pegasus Access Scheme and agree to take a number of work experience placements every year. Inner Temple launched the unique scheme in 2011 with the stated aim of improving access to the profession and to support high achieving students from under-represented backgrounds by providing the experiences they need to be able to thrive at the Bar.