David Southern KC

Practice Areas

Extensive tax litigation and advisory practice in both direct taxes and VAT, including judicial review, enquiries, pensions and EU law.

Areas of expertise:

• Tax litigation

• Corporate tax and taxation of businesses

• Pension schemes

• Judicial review

• VAT and customs duties

• Tax enquiries

• Employment income taxation

Principal specialisation in corporate finance and company transactions.

Recent cases include:

Ardeshir Naghshineh v R & C Comrs [2022] EWCA Civ 19. [2022] STC 177 (Court of Appeal)

Allegion (UK) nLtd v R & C Comrs TC/2021/0155

Heather Whyte v R & C Comrs [2021] UKFTT 0270 (TC)

R & C Comrs v Premier Picture Ltd [2021] SFTD 977

R (on the application of Cartref Care Home Ltd) v R & C Comrs (Administrative Court) [2020] STC 516, EWHC 3382 (Admin)

Hopscotch Ltd v R & Comrs [2020] UKUT 0294 (TCC)

SilverDoor Ltd v R & C Comrs TC/2019/02830

R & C Comrs v NHS Lothian Health Board UKSC 2020/135 (Supreme Court)

Vaccine Research Limited Partnership v R & C Comrs (First-tier Tribunal)

Charles Tyrwhitt LLP v R & C Comrs [2021] STC 1426

Milton Keynes Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust v R & C Comrs (Court of Appeal) [2021] STC 1395

Airways Pension Scheme Trustee Ltd v Fielder [2019] EWHC 3032 (Ch) (High Court)

Saint-Gobain Building Distribution Ltd v R & C Comrs (First-tier Tribunal) [2019] SFTD 924

Brain Disorders Research LP v R & C Comrs [2018] STC 2355 (Court of Appeal)

R (on the application of Carlton) v R & C Comrs (Administrative Court) [2018] STC 589

R (on the application of Rowe) v R & C Comrs (Court of Appeal) [2018] STC 462

Kinnerton Confectionery Ltd v R & C Comrs (First-tier Tribunal) [2018] STFD 1256

Coin-A-Drink Ltd v R & C Comrs [2017] STC 1351

R (on the application of Graham) v R&C Comrs (Administrative Court) [2017] STC 1

R (on the application of De Silva) v R & C Comrs (Court of Appeal) [2016] STC 1333

Copthorn Holdings Limited v R & C Comrs (No 2) [2016] SFTD 17

R (on the application of Walapu) v R & C Comrs [2016] STC 1682

BAA plc v R & C Comrs [2013] STC 752

Career

Year of call 1982.

Inland Revenue Solicitors’ Office: Commissioners hearings; litigation, tax enquiries

Lloyds’ Bank tax department: corporate tax compliance, debt issues, lending and capital adequacy.

Independent practice at the Bar 1997.

QC 2014 (now KC)

Director of School of Tax Law, Queen Mary, University of London 1999-2022

Professional Memberships

Revenue Bar Association;

Chartered Institute of Taxation (Fellow);

VAT Practitioners’ Group; Bankers’ Taxation Circle;

International Fiscal Association;

European Association of Professors of Tax Law

Publications

Books

Taxation of Corporate Finance (11th edition of Taxation of Loan Relationships and Derivative Contracts) (Bloomsbury Professional, publication due 2025)

Supplement to 10th edition of Taxation of Loan Relationships and Derivative Contracts (Bloomsbury Professional 2020)

Taxation of Loan Relationships and Derivative Contracts 10th edition, (Bloomsbury Professional, 2017)

Loose-leaf

Gore-Browne on Companies (Jordans), Chapters 47-48F

Book chapters

Chapter 8: VAT and Tax’, in Tanfield Chambers, Service Charges and Management ed. Mark Loveday, 5th edition (London, 2022), pp119 -138

‘Customs and Tax Law’, The UK Supreme Court Year Book 2016, Volume 7 (London, 2017), pp426-431

Articles

'JTI Acquisitions Co (2011) Ltd v HMRC: unallowable purpose' [2023] British Tax Review, 564-578

(with Oktavia Weidmann) 'Cryptotaxation: A Guide to a Brave New World', [2023] British Tax Review 68-94

‘Royal Opera House Covent Garden Foundation v HMRC’: when is an economic link direct and immediate for VAT purposes?’ [2021] British Tax Review 566-578

‘The tax consequences of loan transfers’, Tax Journal Issue 1553, 12 November 2021, pp 14-17

‘Union Castle : is the ‘fairly represent’ test fair?’, Tax Journal. Issue 1488, 22 May 2020, pp 18-20

‘Amendments to the 2019 loan charge: work in progress’, Tax Journal, Issue 1476, 21 February 2020, pp14-16

Delegitimising legitimate expectations’, [2019] British Tax Review pp126 – 138

The UK tax system: from trust to transparency’, Tax Journal, Issue 1401, 1 June 2018, pp7 - 9

‘Close company loans and participators’, Tax Journal, Issue 1341, 10 February 2017, pp12-14

‘FB 2016: Asymmetric notional finance charges’, Tax Journal, Issue 1304, 15 April 2016, pp15-17

Personal

Member of Bar Council (1999 – 2007),

Bar Council Treasurer (2004-2007),

Committee Member of Bar Standards Board; (2007-2014),

Trustee of Council of the Inns of Court (2014-2019).

Bencher of Lincoln’s Inn since 2010.

Degrees: MPhil, MA, DPhil (Oxford); CTA (Fellow)

Clients

Bishop & Sewell; Ernst & Young; Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner; Pinsent Masons; Reynolds Porter Chamberlain; Greenwoods; Edwards Greene; RSM; Grant Thornton; BDO; Rix & Kay & Kay; Plummer Parsons; Deutsche Bank.

Experience

Other professional activities

Extensive work for overseas tax authorities: Latvia (VAT code), European

Commission (accession treaties);

China (membership of World Trade Organisation); Australia (international transactions)

Languages Spoken

German; French