Our global reach & tax specialists & sector insight & moving with technology & transacting and structuring & defending and protecting & always in your corner & that’s Tax with Bird & Bird.

Our innovative tax disputes and investigations team specialises in handling tax risks that arise in sectors most affected by technological change, with a wealth of experience leading complex tax disclosure projects.

Tax disputes have quickly gained importance in recent years due to an increasingly confrontational approach taken by global tax authorities and the potential for tax controversies to cause significant reputational damage. Our team is dedicated full time to the resolution of disputes with the tax authorities. It provides clients with assistance throughout the life cycle of a dispute, including pre-emptive advice to help manage the risk of a future dispute, the identification and disclosure of information and documents during an investigation, and litigation in the tax tribunals and courts. Combined with the deep industry knowledge of Bird & Bird’s lawyers, the team’s understanding of how the tax authorities handle investigations and litigation and its track record of resolving disputes through out-of-court settlement, means that it is well placed to help both corporate and individual clients navigate the most challenging of contentious tax matters.

The team’s focus on large-scale tax disclosure projects means that it is able to quickly understand and advise clients on how to deal with tax risks that arise in factually complex or difficult circumstances, such as where deliberate or fraudulent behaviour is alleged or suspected. We regularly assemble and manage multi-disciplinary project teams (drawing in IT specialists, forensic accountants and clients’ personnel) to undertake forensic internal investigations with a view to making a disclosure to the tax authority which maximises the chances of a settlement.

Contacts

Andy Brown

Partner  |  UK

View further contacts

Recent highlights of work

  • Instructed by multinational group to conduct a forensic investigation of multi-million pound VAT/corporation tax errors and make a disclosure to the tax authorities.
  • Instructed by a global and US-listed enterprise cloud application provider for finance and human resources on an enquiry launched by HMRC on its UK transfer pricing and Diverted Profits Tax affairs.
  • Instructed by a UK group in relation to the seizure of imported goods and customs errors, including appeals before the First-tier Tribunal and potential judicial review proceedings.

Related materials and downloads

News & Events

  1. 0909-2020

    UK: COVID-19: what should I do if HMRC suspect my business of furlough fraud?

    HMRC have revealed that up to £3.5 billion in Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) payments may have been claimed fraudulently or as a result of error, and confirmed that enquiries have been opened into 27,000 "high ...

  2. 0408-2020

    Upper Tribunal considers HMRC’s discretion to bring civil or criminal proceedings

    In Lindsay Hackett v HMRC [2020] UKUT 0212 (TCC), the Upper Tribunal was asked to consider a rather unusual position taken by the taxpayer: that HMRC should have initiated criminal proceedings against him rather than ...

  3. 3007-2020

    HMRC’s informal investigation powers confirmed by the Court of Appeal

    In R (JJ Management Consulting LLP and others) v Revenue and Customs Commissioners [2020] EWCA CIV 784, the Court of Appeal confirmed that HMRC are entitled to conduct an informal investigation into a taxpayer's affairs ...