Monckton Chambers is consistently lauded as one of the top sets for Tax & Duties in the legal directories.

Monckton Chambers is a first-rate set known for its extensive work across the full gamut of indirect taxation disputes. Chambers frequently acts for the Revenue and for taxpayers in cases relating to VAT, anti-dumping charges, input and exit taxes and landfill taxes, among others. Members regularly appear at all levels of the court and tribunal system, and routinely handle cases before the Supreme Court and the ECJ. The set has been instructed in a number of recent notable and precedent setting matters
Chambers & Partners 2023

Monckton Chambers boasts ‘a number of excellent barristers at a senior and junior level’, offering an unrivalled breadth of experience in indirect tax matters; combining VAT expertise with extensive knowledge of EU, human rights and public law
Legal 500 2023

Members of Monckton Chambers are recommended in Who’s Who Legal as Global and National Leaders in the fields of Tax Controversy and Corporate Tax.

Members of Monckton Chambers routinely act for both the taxpayer and HMRC and one of our greatest strengths is our ability to put together the right teams for the right cases.

Members combine specialist knowledge of Value Added Tax (VAT) and other indirect taxes with extensive expertise in EU, human rights and public law, which have for many years formed the bedrock of our reputation for excellence.

VAT

Members of Monckton Chambers have represented taxpayers and HMRC in dozens of leading cases, many of them in the Court of Appeal, Supreme Court and European Court of Justice.

Members have extensive experience of judicial review applications, for which Chambers’ acknowledged expertise in both indirection taxation and public law is invaluable.

Specific areas of VAT expertise include:

• Assessments and penalties
• Exemptions and zero-rating
• Input tax and partial exemption
• Multiple/single supplies
• Place of supply
• Remedies, repayment and restitution of overpaid VAT and compound interest
• Special schemes
• Abusive practices
• VAT-related judicial review
• Vouchers, customer loyalty schemes
• MTIC fraud
• Crypto-currencies
• VAT groups
• Charities
• Local authorities
• Property
• Education
• Financial services
• European Court procedure
• EU Relations law

Customs duties

Specific areas of customs duties expertise include:

• Tariff classification
• Preferential customs treatment
• Inward/outward processing
• Community transit
• Tariff quota

Excise duties

Specific areas of excise duties expertise include:

• Alcoholic liquor
• Tobacco
• Hydrocarbon oil
• Other related matters such as;
  • Production
  • Processing
  • Holding
  • Movement of excise goods
  • Approval and registration of traders, warehouse keepers and tax warehouses.

Noteworthy excise duties cases in which Monckton Chambers members have acted include General Transport Service SPA in the Court of Appeal (2020), British-American Tobacco (Holdings) Ltd v HMRC  (2017) and Molson Coors Brewing Company (UK) Ltd v HMRC in the Court of Appeal (2017).

Environmental & other taxes

Specific areas of environmental & other taxes expertise include:

• Aggregates Levy
• Air passenger duty
• Climate change levy
• Landfill tax

Members of Chambers acted in the test case landfill tax litigation in HMRC v Devon Waste Management, Biffa Waste Services and Veolia in the Court of Appeal (2021).

Betting & gaming duties

Specific areas of betting & gaming duties expertise include:

• Remote gaming duty
• General Betting Duty
• Machine games duty
• Pool betting duty
• Horserace betting levy

Members of Monckton Chambers have acted in high-profile betting and gaming duties litigation, including Revenue and Customs v London Clubs Management in the Supreme Court (2020) and the Rank litigation relating to taxation of income from gaming machines, in the Supreme Court and Court of Justice of the EU.

State aid and tax

Members have acted in landmark litigation on state aid and tax including Apple’s appeal to the General Court against the EU Commission decision finding that Apple’s tax treatment in Ireland constituted unlawful State aid (2020) and Credit Suisse Securities (Europe) Ltd v HMRC (2019).

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