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David Southern was leading counsel for the taxpayer in the House of Lords in Fleming (t/a Bodycraft) v R & C Comrs [2008] STC 324, which he took from the VAT & Duties Tribunal up to the Lords. His success in that case has generated repayments of tax for taxpayers of some £13.1 billion (Revenue estimate). This was described by the Financial Times as ‘the VAT case of the decade’.
He has wide experience of tax litigation generally, including corporate transactions (Harding v R & C Comrs [2008] STC 3499) and investigations ( Coll v R & C Comrs ([2009] SFTD 101). He represented BAA in BAA v R & C Comrs [2010] UKFTT 43 (TC) in which VAT on takeover costs was recovered. Tax at stake as a result of the case is £100-200 million.
He covers all taxes, personal and corporate, and so can advise on the full picture. He specialises in corporate debt. With PricewaterhouseCoopers he is the author of Taxation of Loan Relationships and Derivative Contracts (Bloomsbury Professional, 9th ed 2010). He has particular experience of debt restructurings and Eurobond issues.
Before coming to the Bar he worked for the Inland Revenue and in the tax department of Lloyds TSB, and so has experience both of the government service and large corporates.
He acts as an expert witness and had given depositions in US proceedings.
He is a Fellow and the Chartered Institute of Taxation and a Fellow of the Institute of Indirect Taxation.
He is a past Treasurer of the Bar Council; was UK National Reporter at the 2006 International Fiscal Association conference; and is Director of the School of Tax law at Queen Mary, University of London.
Advocacy experience
He has appeared as leading or sole counsel in a wide range of courts and tribunals including:
· European Court of Justice
· House of Lords
· Court of Appeal
· High Court
· Companies Court
· Administrative Court
· Lands Tribunal
· Upper Tribunal
· First-tier Tribunal (Tax Chamber)
· County Court
Recent reported cases
Astra-Zeneca Uk Ltd v R & C Comrs (Case C-40/09) (European Court)
BAA v R & C Comrs [2010] UKFTT 43 (TC) (First-Tier Tribunal)
Arachchige v R & C Comrs /[2009] STC 1729 (High Court)
Coll v R & C Comrs ([2009] SFTD 101 (First-Tier Tribunal)
Elizabeth Court (Bournemouth) Ltd v R & C Comrs [2009] STC 682 (High Court)
Harding v R & C Comrs [2008] STC 3499 (Court of Appeal)
Fleming (t/a Bodycraft) v R & C Comrs [2008] STC 324 (House of Lords)
Recent advisery experience
- Corporation tax treatment of Fleming payments.
- Recovery of Fleming payments
- Claims for compound interest
- Debtor substitution
- Party political funding
- Deductability of consultancy payments
- Recovery of VAT by local authorities
- VAT treatment of charities
- Taxation of non-domiciliaries
- Eurobond issues
For more details: www.davidsouthern.co.uk
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