One minute with Alun James, Head of Chambers at Temple Tax.
What’s keeping you busy at work?
Transactions, always – reconstructions and structuring issues ahead of them and due diligence issues during them. The forthcoming election is driving a certain amount of tax traffic at the moment but personally I want to see it over and done with so that the commercial wheels can start turning again. Employee Ownership Trusts are very popular these days but it’s important to remember it’s a question of ethos first, tax second. Within Chambers generally there is always a lot of litigation going on, particularly around IR35 (still), VAT and international tax disputes.
What do you know now that you wish you’d known at the start of your career?
When I left school my headteacher said I must now learn the art of relaxation, which I thought at the time a little pompous of him but now appreciate was very insightful. Whatever your ‘thing’ is – music, meditation, France – it’s crucial to make time for it.
In terms of tax analysis, the absolute key to what we all do, I was fortunate to learn very early on that, when considering a tricky issue, you need of course to read it, research it and think about it, but then you should put it away, at least once, ideally twice, before finalising your view or opinion – let your subconscious mind do the heavy-lifting!
Has a recent tax case caught your eye?
Euromoney (now Delinian in the Court of Appeal), and Wilkinson in the FTT(I appeared for the taxpayers), where the courts have adopted a sensible approach to what is a ‘main object’ of tax avoidance in the context of commercial deals. If it’s not an essential object, it’s not a main object – a valuable tool in the context of transactional tax planning.
If you could make one change to tax...
Just one? Advance clearance please for stamp taxes as well as for direct taxes on demergers and reconstructions etc. I understand the GAAR, but not the GAAR Panel – what’s wrong with the tribunal? HMRC should scrap their Litigation and Settlement Strategy. It’s just a barrier to sensible negotiation in tax disputes and a disaster for the many who simply cannot afford the time, stress, or cost of tax appeals. Finally, with high quality specialist judges at FTT and UT levels, is it time to move away from an adversarial system to a more inquisitorial one with a view to streamlining the system and hearings? There we are – sorted.
What development should we look out for later this year?
My worry is that there is an ongoing move against business reliefs. We have already seen the reduction in the benefit of ER/BADR and now there is talk of a reduction in the limit for IHT Business Relief (or Business Property Relief as I always thought it was called). Tax can be a force for good, whether it is encouraging good environmental practices, or increasing the personal allowance for income tax, and that should include establishing an entrepreneurial environment where businesses are rewarded, not penalised, for taking the risks other people don’t. Without the right tax environment, businesses will not even start, never mind prosper, and without new businesses (and getting back into Europe of course) our economy will never grow.
You might not know this about me but...
I love a good concert. From Bowie in ’78 to OMD in 2024, and many, many more in between – they never fail to uplift and inspire me. It’s a shame there are so few venues now. Growing up in Coventry, there were at least four places in town to go and see gigs, plus the universities. I doubt there are now – the best one, Tiffany’s, eventually became the library.
One minute with Alun James, Head of Chambers at Temple Tax.
What’s keeping you busy at work?
Transactions, always – reconstructions and structuring issues ahead of them and due diligence issues during them. The forthcoming election is driving a certain amount of tax traffic at the moment but personally I want to see it over and done with so that the commercial wheels can start turning again. Employee Ownership Trusts are very popular these days but it’s important to remember it’s a question of ethos first, tax second. Within Chambers generally there is always a lot of litigation going on, particularly around IR35 (still), VAT and international tax disputes.
What do you know now that you wish you’d known at the start of your career?
When I left school my headteacher said I must now learn the art of relaxation, which I thought at the time a little pompous of him but now appreciate was very insightful. Whatever your ‘thing’ is – music, meditation, France – it’s crucial to make time for it.
In terms of tax analysis, the absolute key to what we all do, I was fortunate to learn very early on that, when considering a tricky issue, you need of course to read it, research it and think about it, but then you should put it away, at least once, ideally twice, before finalising your view or opinion – let your subconscious mind do the heavy-lifting!
Has a recent tax case caught your eye?
Euromoney (now Delinian in the Court of Appeal), and Wilkinson in the FTT(I appeared for the taxpayers), where the courts have adopted a sensible approach to what is a ‘main object’ of tax avoidance in the context of commercial deals. If it’s not an essential object, it’s not a main object – a valuable tool in the context of transactional tax planning.
If you could make one change to tax...
Just one? Advance clearance please for stamp taxes as well as for direct taxes on demergers and reconstructions etc. I understand the GAAR, but not the GAAR Panel – what’s wrong with the tribunal? HMRC should scrap their Litigation and Settlement Strategy. It’s just a barrier to sensible negotiation in tax disputes and a disaster for the many who simply cannot afford the time, stress, or cost of tax appeals. Finally, with high quality specialist judges at FTT and UT levels, is it time to move away from an adversarial system to a more inquisitorial one with a view to streamlining the system and hearings? There we are – sorted.
What development should we look out for later this year?
My worry is that there is an ongoing move against business reliefs. We have already seen the reduction in the benefit of ER/BADR and now there is talk of a reduction in the limit for IHT Business Relief (or Business Property Relief as I always thought it was called). Tax can be a force for good, whether it is encouraging good environmental practices, or increasing the personal allowance for income tax, and that should include establishing an entrepreneurial environment where businesses are rewarded, not penalised, for taking the risks other people don’t. Without the right tax environment, businesses will not even start, never mind prosper, and without new businesses (and getting back into Europe of course) our economy will never grow.
You might not know this about me but...
I love a good concert. From Bowie in ’78 to OMD in 2024, and many, many more in between – they never fail to uplift and inspire me. It’s a shame there are so few venues now. Growing up in Coventry, there were at least four places in town to go and see gigs, plus the universities. I doubt there are now – the best one, Tiffany’s, eventually became the library.
