PROFILE

Simon Whitehead was a founding partner of the firm. He has more than 36 years of litigation experience and has spent more than 23 years exclusively focusing on contentious tax, mostly in direct tax and particularly corporation tax.  He represents high net worth individuals, the largest multinationals and household names in complex tax disputes in all areas of direct and indirect tax in the UK and Europe.  He has represented clients at all court levels including 9 times in each of the Supreme Court and CJEU. 

Simon has been selected as the lead and test-case solicitor in most group litigation orders in the Chancery Division of the High Court, in which multinational company groups challenge the lawfulness of various UK corporate tax imposts. He established the first ever Group Litigation Order in the Administrative Court, which successfully challenged HMRC’s practice in assessing the tax transfer of pension savings to foreign pension funds.

His cases include the Marks & Spencer (group relief), Prudential (dividend taxation, the ROSIIP (pension transfers) and Autologic (jurisdiction of tax courts) cases.  He has been top ranked in leading legal directories for well over a decade.

 Publications include Tax Journal, EC Tax Review, Taxation, International Tax Review & others.  Editor The Tax Disputes and Litigation Review (8 Eds).

PROFESSIONAL QUALIFICATIONS

Admitted as a solicitor of the Australian Federal Court and High Court

Admitted as a solicitor in England and Wales

Admitted as a solicitor in New South Wales

Member of the Law Society of England and Wales

Member of the Law Society of New South Wales

EDUCATION

University of Sydney - PhD

University of Sydney - LLB

University of Sydney - BA (first class honours)

RECOMMENDATIONS

For more than ten years, Simon has been ranked consistently top among the leading individuals for tax litigation and contentious tax by the Legal 500 and Chambers & Partners. Legal Business has described Simon as ‘the go-to guy if you want a no-nonsense approach to success’ and ‘the first person any company should think about in tax litigation’ (2012).

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London solicitors & barristers specialising in tax litigation, HMRC tax disputes, HMRC tax appeal, HMRC tax tribunal and HMRC tax penalty appeal.

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London Barristers & Attorneys specialising in Tax Litigation