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. 1611-2021

    Positive news for data controllers in the much-anticipated Lloyd v Google Supreme Court judgment

    The long wait for the decision of the Supreme Court in Lloyd v Google [2021] UKSC 2019/0213 is over. The world of data privacy litigation has been waiting with bated breath for this decision, its importance ...

  2. 1803-2021

    NatWest to face the first criminal prosecution by the FCA for breaches of money laundering regulations

    The Financial Conduct Authority (“FCA”) has launched its first criminal prosecution for offences under the Money Laundering Regulations. It is also the first criminal prosecution against a bank for such offences. ...

  3. 0303-2021

    UK: COVID-19 Business Support Risk Assessment

    At the UK Budget announcement made on 3 March 2021, Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak formally announced the creation of a new ‘Taxpayer Protection Taskforce’. The Taskforce will be equipped with 1,265 HMRC staff ...