One minute with Laurent Sykes QC of Gray's Inn Tax Chambers.
What’s in your in-tray?
Advisory work covering topics as diverse as the diverted profits tax, and the structuring of the take-private of an overseas company using a UK holding company. There are various disputes with HMRC, so far being dealt with through correspondence (for instance on employment tax matters and on the availability of group-wide rollover relief). In terms of litigation work, I am acting on the unwind of a contribution into a trust on the grounds of mistake, which is being dealt with by written submissions to the Chancery division, an important Court of Appeal case on pensions and bankruptcy which has attracted a lot of attention in the world of insolvency, and a case to be heard before the Appeal Commissioners in Dublin on employment tax, to name a few.
What do you most like about working at the Tax Bar?
The diversity of clients that working at the Bar brings: individuals (from bankrupts to celebrities), multinational companies and foreign governments. I like being my own boss (when my senior clerk gives me permission).
What are the most important qualities in a barrister?
Relentlessness, loyalty to the client and not sitting on the fence.
If you could make one change to UK tax law or practice, what would it be?
I would impose a mandatory Q&A test, prepared by the CIOT, on all MPs about to vote on a piece of tax legislation to make sure they could explain what they were voting on. The results would be published. Those not willing to take the test, or failing it, would be barred from voting. The same would apply to members of the Public Accounts Committee about to pronounce on a tax issue, particularly given the protection offered to them by Parliamentary privilege, which needs to be earned.
I would also introduce a taxpayer GAAR, where the result contended for by HMRC was clearly not in the contemplation of Parliament, having regard to explanatory notes, other materials and common sense.
Looking back on your career to date, what key lessons have your learned?
One wins by not giving up when the chips are down. Conversely, it is when thinking that one is clearly on top of a point, that one must be at one’s most vigilant to ensure that something is not being missed.
Another lesson is the difference that a good accountant or solicitor can make to the outcome of the legal process. One sees this starkly in picking up cases where the taxpayer/claimant/defendant has previously been unrepresented. For clients who are able to, building strong relationships with advisers whom one trusts is the only sensible course.
Name a memorable moment in your career.
There have been a few, and some have even been good. A very recent one is forcing a change in the law, namely the change to be made to TMA 1970 s 34 by Finance Bill 2016. This follows the Higgs case in which I acted for the taxpayer and which established that there were no time limits preventing surplus tax paid on account/suffered at source from being reclaimed by the filing of a late tax return, even a very late one. Similar points continue to apply in the corporation tax context.
Aside from your immediate colleagues, whom in the law do you most admire?
Horace Rumpole for the indomitable way he stood up to Judge Bullingham.
Tell us a secret.
I have a bust of Lord Admiral Nelson and a bust of Napoleon both sitting on my desk. Professionally, it is important to appreciate that there are two sides to every story
One minute with Laurent Sykes QC of Gray's Inn Tax Chambers.
What’s in your in-tray?
Advisory work covering topics as diverse as the diverted profits tax, and the structuring of the take-private of an overseas company using a UK holding company. There are various disputes with HMRC, so far being dealt with through correspondence (for instance on employment tax matters and on the availability of group-wide rollover relief). In terms of litigation work, I am acting on the unwind of a contribution into a trust on the grounds of mistake, which is being dealt with by written submissions to the Chancery division, an important Court of Appeal case on pensions and bankruptcy which has attracted a lot of attention in the world of insolvency, and a case to be heard before the Appeal Commissioners in Dublin on employment tax, to name a few.
What do you most like about working at the Tax Bar?
The diversity of clients that working at the Bar brings: individuals (from bankrupts to celebrities), multinational companies and foreign governments. I like being my own boss (when my senior clerk gives me permission).
What are the most important qualities in a barrister?
Relentlessness, loyalty to the client and not sitting on the fence.
If you could make one change to UK tax law or practice, what would it be?
I would impose a mandatory Q&A test, prepared by the CIOT, on all MPs about to vote on a piece of tax legislation to make sure they could explain what they were voting on. The results would be published. Those not willing to take the test, or failing it, would be barred from voting. The same would apply to members of the Public Accounts Committee about to pronounce on a tax issue, particularly given the protection offered to them by Parliamentary privilege, which needs to be earned.
I would also introduce a taxpayer GAAR, where the result contended for by HMRC was clearly not in the contemplation of Parliament, having regard to explanatory notes, other materials and common sense.
Looking back on your career to date, what key lessons have your learned?
One wins by not giving up when the chips are down. Conversely, it is when thinking that one is clearly on top of a point, that one must be at one’s most vigilant to ensure that something is not being missed.
Another lesson is the difference that a good accountant or solicitor can make to the outcome of the legal process. One sees this starkly in picking up cases where the taxpayer/claimant/defendant has previously been unrepresented. For clients who are able to, building strong relationships with advisers whom one trusts is the only sensible course.
Name a memorable moment in your career.
There have been a few, and some have even been good. A very recent one is forcing a change in the law, namely the change to be made to TMA 1970 s 34 by Finance Bill 2016. This follows the Higgs case in which I acted for the taxpayer and which established that there were no time limits preventing surplus tax paid on account/suffered at source from being reclaimed by the filing of a late tax return, even a very late one. Similar points continue to apply in the corporation tax context.
Aside from your immediate colleagues, whom in the law do you most admire?
Horace Rumpole for the indomitable way he stood up to Judge Bullingham.
Tell us a secret.
I have a bust of Lord Admiral Nelson and a bust of Napoleon both sitting on my desk. Professionally, it is important to appreciate that there are two sides to every story
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