Natasha Barnes

Tax

Natasha’s practice covers litigation and advice across all areas of indirect tax, and she is particularly sought after for challenges brought by way of judicial review.

She regularly appears before the Court of Appeal, High Court, Upper Tax Tribunal and in high value appeals heard in the First-tier Tax Tribunal. Those cases have involved the interpretation of EU directives, fiscal neutrality, the place of supply, triangulation, human rights in relation to tax law, the excise warehousing scheme and the alcohol wholesaler registration scheme.

Selected Cases

• Success on behalf of taxpayer in a judicial review challenge to HMRC’s failure to allow late amendments to a tax return.
• Ampleaward Ltd v HMRC [2021] EWCA Civ 1459: Lead counsel in Court of Appeal case concerning the lawfulness of the ‘fall back’ provisions relating to acquisition tax due on cross-border supplies.
• Acting on behalf of a healthcare company in a challenge to HMRC’s decision to issue an open market value direction.
• Acting on behalf of a local authority in a challenge to HMRC’s decision concerning the correct VAT treatment of pay-as-you-go parking.
• Life Services v HMRC [2020] 1 WLR 2828: Success in lead cases before the Court of Appeal addressing whether supplies could be treated differently for VAT purposes across the devolved nations.
• KSM Henryk Zeman v HMRC [2021] UKUT 182: Appeared as sole counsel in an important Upper Tribunal appeal concerning whether the FTT has jurisdiction to consider public law arguments in an appeal.
• R (on the application of Seabrook Warehousing Ltd) v HMRC [2019] EWCA Civ 1357: Success in Court of Appeal arising out of a judicial review challenge that the due diligence requirements imposed on alcohol traders were unlawful and disproportionate.
• Lead counsel in a complex partial exemption dispute involving a two week trial before the FTT in March 2022.
• Advised in a £50 million VAT dispute concerning the correct treatment of supplies across a corporate group.