Laura Stephenson

Tax

Laura acts for HMRC both as a junior alone and led junior in tax appeals in the First-Tier Tribunal (Tax Chamber). She has been instructed by HMRC in cases concerning Missing Trader Intra-Community (MTIC) fraud, acquisition fraud, penalties and personal liability notices.

In a recent case, Laura acted as leading junior counsel, defending an appeal at the FTT. The appeal was presented by an experienced silk and involved reclaimed VAT in the sum of over £240k. This was a case of considerable complexity because the commodity traded was PPI leads, a commodity never before seen in Missing Trader/Acquisition frauds, and required the use of two experts. A close analysis of data protection law at the time of the transactions was also required. The appeal was dismissed after a two-week hearing; the Tribunal found that the appellant should have known his trading was connected with fraud and HMRC retained the sum in its entirety. Laura is now the leading barrister for HMRC in the PPI Data field given her success in this case and her knowledge of this unique, fast-paced market and associated data protection law.