Monckton Chambers

Peter has a breadth and depth of experience and expertise in the field of VAT unsurpassed at the junior bar.

He is regularly instructed by accountants and solicitors to advise clients, in many sectors, on VAT issues which they need to resolve. Peter has helped private clients successfully address a wide range of VAT issues, from Assessments to Zero-rating. He has recently acted for clients in the charities, education, e-commerce, insurance and financial services sectors, amongst others. Peter has extensive experience acting for, as well as against, HMRC and is regularly entrusted by HMRC with advice and litigation in complex high value cases.

Peter has appeared in over 100 reported VAT cases (major cases reported in Simon’s Tax Cases, which were decided by the Upper Tribunal or by the higher courts), including successful appearances in the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court. This is in addition to frequently representing clients in appeals to the First-tier tax Tribunal, where most tax litigation is resolved. Before EU Exit he regularly represented the UK in the European Court of Justice in VAT cases. His strong reputation on points of EU law helps equip him well to handle disputes over assimilated EU law, as it continues to affect UK taxpayers, and over post-EU Exit amendments to the UK’s VAT legislation.

Peter was part of the HMRC counsel team which won the Littlewoods multi-billion pound compound interest litigation in the Supreme Court (in 2017), the only counsel to represent HMRC in every court throughout that litigation. He acted in the first VAT Group Litigation to be tried in the High Court.

With a growing charity sector practice, his Advice to the Charity Tax Group, which CTG put to HMRC, helped CTG to trigger a favourable shift in HMRC policy on charity advertising.

Peter brings skills originally acquired across a broad range of civil litigation and honed in the tax field, including valuable insights gained from representing both private clients and HMRC.

His tax practice includes many tax judicial reviews and human rights based claims. Alongside VAT, his practice includes excise duty and other indirect taxes.

Qualified 1989, Inner Temple; Monckton Chambers since 1991; member of Attorney General’s A Panel of counsel since 2005; regular contributor to the ‘Tax Journal’.

Basic French and German.

VAT Practitioners Group

Revenue Bar Association

Member of the A Panel of the Attorney General’s panel of counsel, first appointed 2005

Solihull School; New College, Oxford (BA Hens Jurisprudence); Jesus College, Cambridge (LLM).

Football, ballet.