McGrigors taps 3 from Tenon

National law firm McGrigors has appointed three tax investigation specialists from Tenon Group, the Top 10 accountancy firm, to enhance the UK’s largest contentious tax practice.

The three tax investigation specialists are based in[private] the firm’s London office and will handle cases alongside Manchester-based Tax Investigations Director, Joe Quinn, while also working alongside Partners James Bullock, Jason Collins, Rupert Shiers and David Anderson, who will continue to handle tax litigation cases.

McGrigors says that a significant number of tax disputes can be resolved through negotiation with HM Revenue & Customs without involving the courts or tax tribunals. Equally, the amount of tax investigations work is set to increase with the New Disclosure Opportunity – or NDO – for taxpayers with offshore bank accounts and tax irregularities. The NDO is due to be launched on 1 September this year.

Phil Berwick joins McGrigors as a Director. Prior to joining McGrigors Phil was the National Head of Tax Investigations at Tenon Group. He has also worked for a Big Four firm, and is a former Inspector of Taxes.

Paul Williams joins McGrigors as a Manager while Jessica Maude arrives as an Assistant Manager.

According to McGrigors, the appointment of the three tax investigation specialists will provide a significant boost to the firm’s client offering and will allow the firm to provide a full service tax controversy practice encompassing both litigation and investigations under one roof.

James Bullock, Head of Litigation and Regulatory at McGrigors, comments: “These appointments are a highly significant strategic step for McGrigors. For the first time it will allow us to provide a full multi-disciplinary tax disputes and investigations offering to clients and will move us into the mainstream tax investigations market. We are finding that the Big Four accountancy firms are focusing increasingly on the large corporate market and on investigations with an international angle.”

“McGrigors now has the largest multi-disciplinary practice handling both tax litigation and investigations work in the UK. We remain the only firm to focus exclusively on contentious tax, which means we are not exposed to the same potential conflicts of interest that firms who also provide tax advisory services routinely have to deal with. We have always been huge advocates of the multi-disciplinary approach”.

Phil Berwick adds: “I am delighted to be joining McGrigors, and look forward to adding to their existing service offering. It makes sense for clients to instruct specialist law firms on tax investigation work as law firms can offer their clients the protection of legal privilege, which is a very significant consideration in tax investigations. The timing could not be better since HMRC is about to launch its New Disclosure Opportunity on 1 September, and this is likely to lead to a large number of disclosures by and investigations of taxpayers with irregularities linked to offshore bank accounts.”[/private]