36 Queen Street, London, EC4R 1BN | +44 (0)20 7242 2642
Harry Winter

“Harry is exceptionally intelligent, and a pleasure to work with. His insight and strategy have been decisive in a number of disputes. I regularly recommend him to colleagues and clients.”

Anonymous

“I was extremely impressed with Harry Winter’s professionalism, expertise and advice regarding a tricky dispute with HMRC. Not only did he win the case for me, through his diligence and intelligent application of the law, but he also demonstrated genuine kindness and empathy towards me throughout. I shall be forever grateful to him.”

Anonymous

“Our clients are very pleased with him and he has proven to be diligent, enthusiastic, professional and is of course very bright.

Anonymous

Harry has a practice covering all aspects of Chambers’ specialisms across UK, EU, and international taxation. Before embarking on law, he read Classics and Sanskrit at Magdalen College, Oxford, where he won a Double First: wrestling with ancient texts readied him for the UK tax code. He subsequently gained an LLB (First Class) and then an LLM (Distinction), coming top of his cohort in both degrees, before obtaining an MSc in Taxation (Distinction) from Christ Church, Oxford. He has been ranked as a Rising Star in all three tax categories by Legal 500: personal, corporate, and VAT.

He advises and represents both taxpayers and HMRC (having been appointed to the Attorney General’s C Panel) in a wide variety of tax-related matters, including commercial litigation that has a ‘tax angle’. Court appearances have included the Court of Appeal, High Court, Upper Tribunal, and First-tier Tax Tribunal, on cases ranging across areas such as tax avoidance schemes, EU corporate tax law, VAT exemptions, and negligence by tax professionals. He has been involved out-of-court in an equally broad spectrum of matters related to tax, such as advice on the UK taxation of foreign trusts, stamp duty land tax, rescission, corporate reorganisations, tax treaties, and employment taxation.

Harry has stayed in touch with the academic world by lecturing part-time at King’s College London on their tax LLM. Outside of law and tax, his interests are largely linguistic and literary. He is familiar with Italian, French, Dutch, Latin, Greek, and Sanskrit and knows something of around a dozen others, but he finds friends and family only marginally more willing to talk about languages than tax.

Call to the Bar: 2018 (England); 2021 (Ireland)

Education:
  • Christ Church, Oxford University – MSc (Taxation) (Distinction; ranked second in cohort)
  • BPP University – LLM incorporating BPTC (Distinction; ranked first in cohort)
  • City, University of London – LLB incorporating GDL (First Class Honours; ranked first in cohort)
  • Magdalen College, Oxford University – BA (Classics and Oriental Studies) (Double First Class Honours)
Prizes and Scholarships:
  • James Bullock Scholarship from Oxford University
  • Prince of Wales Scholarship from Gray’s Inn
  • David Karmel Scholarship from Gray’s Inn
  • Academic Scholarship from BPP University
  • Academic Scholarship from City, University of London
  • Academic Scholarship from Magdalen College, Oxford University
  • Current Issues in Taxation 2023 Prize from Oxford University
  • Current Issues in Taxation 2021 Prize from Oxford University
  • Pearson Prize for Family Law from City, University of London
  • Chancellor’s Latin Verse Prize from Oxford University
Recent cases include:
  • Halstead v HMRC [2023] UKFTT 871 (TC) (SDLT procedure and reliefs)
  • Nellsar v HMRC [2023] UKFTT 718 (TC) (Intangible assets, GAAP, and valuation)
  • Wilkinson v HMRC [2023] UKFTT 695 (TC) (CGT share exchanges and main purpose)
  • McClean v Thornhill [2023] EWCA Civ 466 (Trading, avoidance schemes, and professional negligence)
  • Volkerrail Plant Ltd v HMRC [2023] EWCA Civ 210 (EU corporate tax law)