Pump Court Tax Chambers > London, England > Set Profile
Pump Court Tax Chambers Offices
Pump Court Tax Chambers
16 BEDFORD ROW
LONDON
WC1R 4EF
England
Pump Court Tax Chambers > The Legal 500 Rankings
London Bar > Private client: personal tax Tier 1
Pump Court Tax Chambers is the ‘pre-eminent tax set with excellent barristers at all levels.’ It continues to thrive as is evidenced by Elizabeth Wilson QC taking silk in 2021 and its ongoing involvement in various key cases. Highlights included William Massey QC acting (jointly with Emma Pearce) as an expert witness by providing a report for the Royal Court of Guernsey on the UK inheritance tax treatment of a Guernsey law settlement that had been established by a non-domiciled, non-resident individual in 2002. In R (Locke) v HMRC, David Ewart QC was recently instructed by the taxpayer in a judicial review about whether, and under what circumstances, follower notices and Accelerated Payment Notices should be issued.
Rising stars
Leading Silks
2021 Silks
Leading Juniors
Testimonials
Set
‘The set is a premier one on tax advice.’
‘A go to chambers for technical tax advice, whether personal tax or corporate. Barristers at all levels, so real strength-in-depth. Chambers have always been very good at providing training opportunities.‘
‘A go to set of Chambers on UK tax matters.’
‘In a class of its own amongst tax chambers. Real quality across the board.’
‘Pump Court Tax Chambers is a leading set, and we have pleasure in consulting barristers of all levels on various tax matters. ‘
Clerking
‘Excellent service, and clerks always pleasant and helpful.‘
London Bar > Tax: corporate and VAT/indirect tax
Pump Court Tax Chambers is a ‘leading specialist tax set‘ with a strong presence in the VAT and indirect tax space. The set handles VAT reclaim cases, landfill tax, gaming duty, as well as exploring the operation and scope of exemptions. VAT specialist Andrew Hitchmough QC and Barbara Belgrano represented the successful taxpayer in London Clubs Management v HMRC, in which the Supreme Court dismissed the revenue’s appeal that free bet vouchers should be taken in to account for gaming duty. Roger Thomas QC is a key individual in the VAT and SDLT space and has extensive experience litigating before the Supreme Court and CJEU. Zizhen Yang is also noted and acted as sole counsel for G4S in its appeal against a statutory interest assessment by HMRC.Tax: corporate - Leading Silks
Tax: VAT - Leading silks
Tax: corporate - 2021 Silks
Tax: corporate - Leading Juniors
Tax: VAT - Leading juniors
Testimonials
Set
‘The single strongest tax set.’
‘The number one tax set‘
‘Strong juniors and well-respected seniors in all areas of revenue law.’
‘The chambers are rightly regarded as experts in this field, and their webinar programme has been most useful during the last year.’
‘They have all the virtues and assets you would expect of a market leading set.’
Clerking
‘The clerking service is exceptional – they always go above and beyond, and are often able to provide assistance at very short notice.’
London Bar > Professional negligence
Leading Silks
Pump Court Tax Chambers > Set Profile
Pump Court Tax Chambers is the largest specialist set of barristers practising exclusively in tax.
The set: Whatever the tax issue, from large-scale litigation in the higher courts to complex personal tax questions, Pump Court Tax Chambers has the size and experience to assist in every area of revenue law. Its members typically represent the taxpayer, providing tailored advice and appearing before all the tax tribunals and UK courts. They act for solicitors firms of all sizes, accountancy practices ranging from small partnerships to the Big Four, tax advisors, trust companies and directly for in-house professionals from a wide variety of industries. Members also represent HM Revenue and Customs and, as well as the UK government, have acted for overseas governments, including those of Bermuda, Mauritius, New Zealand, Singapore and Hong Kong.
Chambers regularly hosts tax seminars and, as well as speaking widely at industry events, members of chambers contribute to many tax journals and textbooks. Among other works, the set houses the authors of the pioneering tax planning work Potter and Monroe, together with many of the contributing authors of Simons Direct Tax Service. All members of chambers accept instructions under licensed access. Full information about how to instruct members of chambers can be found on chambers website.
Types of work undertaken: Pump Court Tax Chambers fields experts in the full range of corporate and business tax issues, including: mergers and acquisitions, company and group reconstructions and demergers, transfer pricing, losses/capital allowances and structured finance. They advise on methods of computing profits, including the relevance of accounting practice and deductions against receipts. International and EC tax expertise includes the impact of double tax treaties, the EC treaty on the availability of foreign tax credits, utilising offshore losses and the taxation of foreign dividends and intellectual property income.
Chambers assists individuals, trusts and estates with tax planning advice, covering inheritance tax, capital gains tax, income tax and stamp duty land tax issues. Typical examples include the sale and reorganisation of family companies, advice on family trusts, tax planning for landed estates (including business property relief and agricultural property relief), heritage properties and family homes, tax and matrimonial proceedings, and issues surrounding residence and domicile.
Personal and business tax matters come together in relation to employee remuneration. Here, expertise includes advising on share options and pension schemes, employee share ownership plans, profit sharing schemes and national insurance contributions.
A considerable proportion of chambers work relates to advice and litigation in relation to value-added tax, including issues concerning partial exemption, business/non-business, the single market, non-economic activity, European law and alternative remedies such as judicial review and actions for Frankovitch damages. Chambers also provides advice on other indirect taxes, including insurance premium tax, customs duties, landfill tax, climate change levy and aggregates levy.
Members of chambers have specialist expertise in all stamp taxes and, in particular, issues regarding corporate acquisitions and restructuring, property transactions, developments and refinancing.
In addition, several members of chambers have experience of handling professional negligence claims where direct or indirect tax issues have arisen. As well as acting as advocates in such matters, they are also instructed to appear as expert witnesses. They are experienced in all the principal forms of ADR and chambers can offer accredited tax mediators and arbitrators.
Main Contacts
| Department | Name | Telephone | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Director of Clerking | Mark Rushton | ||
| Members of Chambers | PROSSER QC, Kevin (1982) | ||
| Members of Chambers | THORNHILL QC, Andrew (1969) | ||
| Members of Chambers | MILNE QC, David (1970) | ||
| Members of Chambers | MASSEY QC, William (1977) | ||
| Members of Chambers | TALLON QC, John (1975) | ||
| Members of Chambers | GOODFELLOW QC, Giles (1983) | ||
| Members of Chambers | EWART QC, David (1987) | ||
| Members of Chambers | BALDRY QC, Rupert (1987) | ||
| Members of Chambers | HITCHMOUGH QC, Andrew (1991) | ||
| Members of Chambers | THOMAS QC, Roger (1979) | ||
| Members of Chambers | VALLAT QC, Richard (1997) | ||
| Members of Chambers | YATES QC, David (2004) | ||
| Members of Chambers | RIVETT QC, James (2004) | ||
| Members of Chambers | WHITE, Jeremy (1976) | ||
| Members of Chambers | WOOLF, Jeremy (1986) | ||
| Members of Chambers | CHAMBERLAIN, Emma (1998) | ||
| Members of Chambers | WILSON, Elizabeth (1995) | ||
| Members of Chambers | HENDERSON, James (1997) | ||
| Members of Chambers | DUNN, Sarah (1998) | ||
| Members of Chambers | THOMAS, Michael (2001) | ||
| Members of Chambers | CHOUDHURY, Sadiya (2002) | ||
| Members of Chambers | CONOLLY, Oliver (2003) | ||
| Members of Chambers | POOTS, Laura (2007) | ||
| Members of Chambers | CHACKO, Thomas (2007) | ||
| Members of Chambers | YANG, Zizhen (2009) | ||
| Members of Chambers | BRADLEY, Charles (2010) | ||
| Members of Chambers | WALDEGRAVE, Edward (2011) | ||
| Members of Chambers | BELGRANO, Barbara (2011) | ||
| Members of Chambers | ELLIOTT, Ben (2012) | ||
| Members of Chambers | PEARCE, Emma (2014) | ||
| Members of Chambers | WINDLE, Quinlan (2016) | ||
| Members of Chambers | MAGEE, Ronan (2016) | ||
| Members of Chambers | RUXANDU, Laura (2016) | ||
| Members of Chambers | BLAJ, Calypso (2017) | ||
| ADR members | OLIVER QC, Sir Stephen | ||
| ADR members | AVERY-JONES CBE, Dr John | ||
| ADR members | NIAS, Peter | ||
| Door Tenant | HERBERT QC, Mark* | ||
| Door Tenant | EMSLIE SC, Trevor* | ||
| Members of Chambers | * Door tenants |
Barrister Profiles
| Photo | Name | Position | Profile |
|---|---|---|---|
 | John Avery-Jones | John Avery Jones has sat as a judge in the Tax Tribunals… | View Profile |
|
| Rupert Baldry | Rupert Baldry has been at Pump Court Tax Chambers since 1993. He… | View Profile |
|
| Barbara Belgrano | Barbara joined Chambers in October 2012 after completing her 12- month pupillage.… | View Profile |
 | Calypso Blaj | Calypso joined Chambers as a full tenant on 7th October 2020 after… | View Profile |
 | Charles Bradley | Charles practises in all areas of revenue law. He regularly appears as… | View Profile |
|
| Thomas Chacko | Tom has been in practice at Pump Court since October 2009 and… | View Profile |
|
| Emma Chamberlain | Emma Chamberlain specialises in tax and trust advice for private clients, trusts… | View Profile |
|
| Sadiya Choudhury | Sadiya was called to the Bar in 2002 and became a member… | View Profile |
|
| Oliver Conolly | Oliver practices in all areas of tax law. In addition to an all… | View Profile |
 | Sarah Dunn | View Profile | |
 | Ben Elliott | Ben accepts instructions to act and advise in all areas of Chambers’… | View Profile |
 | David Ewart | David Ewart specialises in all areas of taxation, both corporate and personal,… | View Profile |
 | Giles Goodfellow | Giles’ practice covers the full range of advisory work on direct and… | View Profile |
|
| James Henderson | James advises on all the major UK taxes. His work covers corporate… | View Profile |
|
| Andrew Hitchmough | Andrew Hitchmough specialises in all forms of corporate tax, VAT and Customs… | View Profile |
 | Ronan Magee | Ronan joined Chambers on 2nd October 2018 after completing his twelve-month pupillage.… | View Profile |
|
| William Massey | William Massey’s practice covers all areas of personal and corporate taxation, tax… | View Profile |
 | David Milne | David Milne specializes in both direct and indirect tax, especially litigation and… | View Profile |
 | Peter Nias | Peter Nias is a practising tax specialist Barrister at Pump Court Tax… | View Profile |
 | Stephen Oliver | The first 25 years of Sir Stephen’s professional career were spent at… | View Profile |
|
| Emma Pearce | Emma has a broad advisory and litigation practice which covers all major… | View Profile |
|
| Laura Poots | Laura practises in all areas of taxation, acting in the course of… | View Profile |
|
| Kevin Prosser | Kevin Prosser is widely recognised and consulted in all types of Revenue… | View Profile |
|
| James Rivett | James practises in all areas of revenue law. His practice includes advice… | View Profile |
 | Laura Ruxandu | Laura joined Chambers on 2nd October 2018 after completing her twelve-month pupillage.… | View Profile |
 | John Tallon | John Tallon qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 1970 and has been… | View Profile |
|
| Roger Thomas | Roger’s advisory practice covers a wide area of both direct and indirect… | View Profile |
 | Richard Vallat | Richard Vallat practises in all areas of revenue law. His practice includes… | View Profile |
 | Edward Waldegrave | Edward joined Chambers in December 2012 after completing his twelve month pupillage… | View Profile |
|
| Jeremy White | Jeremy White’s practice covers advice and litigation in both civil and criminal… | View Profile |
|
| Elizabeth Wilson | Elizabeth Wilson practises in all areas of revenue law with particular emphasis… | View Profile |
 | Quinlan Windle | Quinlan joined Chambers on 1st October 2017 after completing his twelve month… | View Profile |
 | Jeremy Woolf | Jeremy’s advisory practice covers a wide area of both direct and indirect… | View Profile |
 | Zizhen Yang | Possessing a depth of experience across the spectrum of tax issues, in… | View Profile |
|
| David Yates | David’s practice covers a wide range of tax law areas and related… | View Profile |
Languages
French Urdu Hindi Punjabi Chinese (Mandarin) Italian Romanian Spanish- Private client: personal tax
- Tax: corporate and VAT/indirect tax
Top Tier Set Rankings
- Professional negligence