Our Insights
International Tax Review selects four partners at Joseph Hage Aaronson LLP as Tax Controversy Leaders
Four of JHA's partners have been selected as highly regarded individuals in the latest edition of Tax Controversy Leaders. This guide by Euromoney's International Tax Review, in association with World Tax, selects the leading Tax Controversy lawyers worldwide based on independent research, including client and peer interviews. Graham Aaronson QC, Michael Anderson, Paul Farmer and Simon Whitehead from JHA's tax disputes team have all been included in the guide. In recent weeks, JHA's contentious tax team has once again achieved top tier rankings in both The Legal 500 UK and Chambers and Partners UK 2020 guides. JHA remains the only law firm to have achieved such rankings in both guides every year since its inception. These continued successes by the firms' tax team demonstrate its market-leading position, which is the result of JHA's unique model of employing expert solicitors, barristers and forensic accountants to offer clients unparalleled service, combined with its experts close working relationships with clients. You can find the Tax Controversy Leaders list for the UK here.


Our Insights

Increased Investment in Personal Tax Compliance in the UK (Published in Thought Leaders 4 Private Client)
Advances in technology and increased international fiscal co-operation have made global personal tax compliance initiatives pop up in abundance in recent years. To compound the issue, the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the corresponding economic fallout prompted domestic governments to increase transparency in relation to investments held by wealthy foreign individuals (with a focus on oligarchs).
In the UK, in the context of the cost-of-living crisis, public opinion certainly seems to be in favour of increased accountability for high-net-worth individuals (eg, on 9 October 2022, 63% of Britons surveyed thought that “the rich are not paying enough and their taxes should be increased”).1
HMRC is one of the most sophisticated tax collection authorities in the world and the department is making significant investments in technology in the field of compliance work; they are well placed to take advantage of new international efforts to increase tax compliance, particularly considering the already extensive network of 130 bilateral tax treaties in the UK (the largest in the world).2 The UK was also a founding member of the OECD’s Joint International Taskforce on Shared Intelligence and Collaboration (JITSIC) forum.
This article discusses the main developments in support of the increased focus on international transparency and personal tax compliance in the UK. There are other international fiscal initiatives, particularly in the field of corporate taxation, but such initiatives are beyond the scope of this article.
It should be noted that a somewhat piecemeal approach, with constant tinkering makes compliance difficult for the taxpayer and is often criticised for lacking the certainty that a stable tax system needs to thrive.
This article was first published with ThoughtLeaders4 Private Client Magazine

Case note: Lynton Exports (Alsager) Ltd v Revenue and Customs Commissioners [2022] UKFTT 00224 (TC)
As HMRC continue to apply the Kittel principle to increasing numbers of industries and businesses, taxpayers need to be vigilant about evidential requirements that HMRC must fulfil in order to discharge their burden of proof. Read JHA’s latest insight into the First-tier Tribunal’s decision in Lynton Exports (Alsager) Ltd v Revenue and Customs Commissioners [2022] UKFTT 00224 (TC).
If you require any further information about the Kittel, Mecsek, and Ablessio principles, or any other allegations by HMRC of fraud or fraudulent abuse, please contact Iain MacWhannell (imw@jha.com).
