Gareth Rhys

Gareth accepts instructions across revenue and customs law. He appears led and unled in the Tax Tribunal and has experience of specialist personal and capital taxes (including Capital Gains Tax, Inheritance Tax, charity sector taxation issues, trusts, foreign income, dividends and royalties, and domicile and residence issues); VAT, including classification and relief from VAT on bad debts; and tax-related judicial review.

Gareth worked on the UK’s withdrawal from the European Union, advising HM Treasury and other departments on revenue and customs issues in connection with the UK’s exit. This was during “tunnel” negotiations in the final months before the end of the Transition Period.

Selected Cases

• The Supreme Court appeal in Hotel la Tour Ltd v HMRC concerning whether input VAT on services like legal, marketing, and financial advisory fees, incurred to facilitate an exempt share sale of a subsidiary by a parent company could be deducted by the parent as input tax attributable to its taxable downstream taxable business of supplying hotel accommodation.
• Chisnall & others v HMRC [2023] UKFTT 857 (TC) concerning the valuation of shares listed on the Alternative Investment Market of the London Stock Exchange and corresponding relief pursuant to s587B of the Income and Corporation Taxes Act 1988.
• Advising and representing a leading vape retailer in an appeal on the VAT treatment of their products.
• Advising and representing an importer and distributor of high quality steel in an appeal for repayment of overpaid import duty and VAT in circumstances where the relevant tariff quota had not been exhausted.
• Advising HMRC on a number of public and revenue law issues arising from the Report of the Independent Investigation into the Financial Conduct Authority’s Regulation of London Capital & Finance plc.
• Boffey v Dyer (LO) [2025] EWHC 113 (Admin) on the meaning of ‘hereditament’ in the Local Government Finance Act 1992.
• Advising an investment fund on the availability and quantum of bad debt relief under Regulation 165A of the Value Added Tax Regulations 1995/2518.
• Advising on the classification of protein bars as standard rated confectionary rather than zero rated flapjacks.

As a Judicial Assistant in the Court of Appeal, Gareth worked on: Skatteforvaltningen (Danish Customs and Tax Divisions) v Solo Capital Partners LLP (In Special Administration) [2022] EWCA Civ 234 concerning the Danish Customs and Tax Administration's claims for the recovery of tax refunds and their admissibility before the English courts by reason of the Revenue Rule (Rule 3(1) of Dicey, Morris & Collins on the Conflict of Laws). HMRC v K Murphy [2022] EWCA Civ 1112 concerning the meaning of the term “profit” as it is used in s62(2)(b) of the Income Tax (Earnings and Pensions) Act 2003 R (DK) v HMRC [2022] EWCA Civ 120 concerning claims for backdated tax credit under the Tax Credits Act 2002 and whether they are valid for the period before a person is recognised as a refugee.

Gareth accepts instructions across all areas of public law and human rights. He is a member of the Attorney General’s London C panel of Counsel. Gareth was also Senior Crown Counsel and Crown Prosecutor for St Helena, in which he advised on a broad range of public law issues.

Selected Cases

• Gareth appeared as sole counsel in Buckley v Attorney General of St Helena [2024] SHSC 522,  a human rights claim brought under the Constitution of St Helena by a former elected Member of the island’s legislature for breaches arising from prison conditions at HMP Jamestown. It was the first claim to involve the fundamental rights provisions of the St Helena Constitution.
• Advising and representing the Commissioner for the British Indian Ocean Territory (Chagos Islands) on several judicial reviews in relation to migrant asylum seekers housed on Diego Garcia island.
• Advising and representing the Secretary of State for Defence in judicial reviews of decisions made under the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy.
• Advising the Attorney General of St Helena on the lawfulness of actions taken in relation to a valuable and high profile procurement project on St Helena.
• Advising the Attorney General of St Helena on financial transparency legislation, namely the implementation of a publicly accessible register of beneficial ownership. This involved the provision of detailed advice to Ministers and the FCDO on public law and human rights aspects of the proposed legislation.
• Advising a potential intervener on the judicial review of the Home Office’s use of Wethersfield Airfield as a site to accommodate asylum-seekers on the basis that the Home Office failed to adopt adequate procedures for screening and monitoring vulnerabilities that made them unsuitable for accommodation on a large scale former military site.

As a Judicial Assistant in the Court of Appeal, Gareth worked on:

• R (Friends of the Earth Ltd) v Secretary of State for International Trade/Export Credits Guarantee Department (UK Export Finance) [2022] EWHC 568 (Admin) a judicial review concerning the lawfulness of the decision by the Secretary of State for International Trade to finance a liquefied natural gas project in Mozambique in light of the UK’s commitments under the Paris Agreement.
• R (Akinsanya) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2022] EWCA Civ 37 concerning the definition of Zambrano carers in the context of the European Union Settlement Scheme.
• R (Palmer) v Northern Derbyshire Magistrates' Court [2021] EWHC 3013 (Admin), a judicial review concerning whether an administrator appointed under Part II of the Insolvency Act 1986 is an "officer" of the company so as to fall within s194(3) of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992.

Gareth was instructed as junior counsel to the UK Covid-19 Inquiry. He was initially instructed on Module 2, working on core political and administrative governance and decision-making for the UK, including the initial response, the implementation of non-pharmaceutical interventions, central government decision making, political and civil service performance as well as the effectiveness of relationships with governments in the devolved administrations and local and voluntary sectors. He was then instructed on Module 9 looking at the economic support for business, jobs, the self-employed, vulnerable people, and those on benefits, and the impact of key economic interventions.

Gareth has also worked on matters related to the Afghanistan Inquiry and the Infected Blood Inquiry.

Gareth accepts instructions on environmental law matters, including actions in nuisance and environmental judicial review. He has advised on a claim for nuisance in respect of a mushroom substrate manufacturing facility and a judicial review of the issue of tree felling licenses by the Forestry Commission.

Gareth accepts instructions for both registrants and regulators. He regularly appears in the High Court on behalf of professional regulators.