Tax

Calculating maths

“A headache for management”: HMRC update could trigger fresh cash calls

A wave of cash calls could be triggered following guidance from HM Revenue & Customs on the tax status of fixed-share partners. Managing partners told The Lawyer that the new Salaried Members Rules Guidance, published just days before the Spring Budget, would cause “headaches” and “confusion” for firms already contending with basis period reforms. One […]

Pinsents’ City office head leaves for DLA Piper

Pinsent Masons’ head of its London office is leaving after four years to join DLA Piper’s London corporate crime and investigations (CCI) team. Before joining Pinsents at the beginning of 2020, Sackey spent almost 13 years at HMRC in senior positions including deputy director of offshore, corporate, and wealthy investigations, and deputy director of criminal […]

Freshfields former tax chief jailed for fraud

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer’s former global head of tax was sentenced to three and a half years in prison by a Frankfurt court on Tuesday. Ulf Johannemann, who had been a partner in the magic circle firm’s Frankfurt office, was found to have assisted the German arm of the Canadian Maple Bank in fraudulent trading over […]

AI robot

AI generates fake case law in tax case

A woman appearing before the First-Tier Tribunal (FTT) Tax Chamber sought to rely on case law fabricated by AI, a judge has ruled. In what may be a first for the UK, the appellant, who represented herself and was appealing a £3,000 penalty issued by HMRC, was found to have unknowingly referenced nine FTT cases […]

Two hires in two weeks: Kirkland adds to tax practice

A tax partner from Macfarlanes is moving over to Kirkland & Ellis, less than two weeks after the US firm made another hire into its team. Ceinwen Rees joins Kirkland after nearly six years at Macfarlanes, where she made partner on return to the firm in 2018. Rees worked as a solicitor at Macfarlanes in […]

Gherkin Kirkland

Kirkland raids Linklaters again for new tax hire

Kirkland & Ellis has hired a tax partner after two departures from the practice to Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison. James Morgan is set to join the firm in London from Linklaters. He works with banks, debt funds and alternative credit funds on a range of taxation issues. One of his core clients is […]

Pinsents claims victory in Denmark’s bumper tax claim

A Supreme Court decision means a bumper claim brought by the Danish Tax Authority (SKAT) can proceed to trial. At the heart of Skatteforvaltningen v Solo Capital Partners is an alleged £1.5bn fraud, which Skat says was committed by a group of defendants for tax refunds to which they were never entitled. In this latest […]

london office building

Stewarts loses tax disputes duo to Big Four

Stewarts has lost two partners from its tax litigation and resolution practice to members of the Big Four. Lee Ellis has left the litigation boutique to join KPMG as a partner. Ellis was at the firm for over seven years after joining from HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) as a senior associate in 2015. He […]