Max Schofield
@maxschofield
Barrister specialising in Indirect Tax litigation. VAT enthusiast ranked in Legal500 and Chambers & Partners. Sharing thoughts on tax, food, & the Chicago Bears
As I always tell my mini-pupils: Knowledge is knowing that tomatoes are a fruit; Wisdom is knowing not to put them in a fruit salad; Being a tax lawyer is arguing whether Ketchup is a smoothie.
Max are nachos a salad
Constance Marten went through 14 barristers. Mark Gordon sacked his legal team and ended up representing himself; a fool for a client.
I covered Constance Marten and Mark Gordon's cases at the Old Bailey. Their trials were extraordinary. My piece below on what it was like: I've never seen a case like Constance Marten and Mark Gordon's - it was jaw-dropping bbc.co.uk/news/articles/…
The HMRC materials for schools are really good.
Teachers! Are your students beginning to ask about #finance? The Tax Facts Quick Answers Sheet is part of our free education programme for young people aged 8-17, helping them to understand real-world finances with confidence. Find out more below. ⬇️ gov.uk/government/pub…
I inadvertently named a song on an album by Ozzy Osbourne’s legendary guitarist @ZakkWyldeBLS
share a piece of lore about yourself
I assume: (1) they will have a methodology to deal with fixed fees (w/o breakdown of hours); (2) they will exclude or account for government rates which artificially suppress the numbers for the kudos of appointment; (3) the will exclude or account for direct access rates.
Dear Middle Lane Hogger’s - I presume you can count to 10? Next time you’re on a motorway follow this simple rule - if you haven’t over taken anything in 10 seconds, you’re in the wrong lane. Simple. Try it 👍🏼
Based on your profile as a VAT barrister enthused by indirect tax, food, and Chicago Bears, you're most like United Biscuits v HMCE (1991)—the Jaffa Cake case, debating cake vs. biscuit for VAT zero-rating. It mirrors your tasty tax-food insights, with a quirky classification…
Last year it was a breathtaking performance of Tosca at @operahollandpk; this year it’s Winnie the Pooh’s Songbook.
What fresh hell is this from my @AbbottNews Libre 2? (It has been more than 10 minutes since I first tried.)
BREAKING NEWS; A Man in 30’s has been Stabbed to death in High end Knightsbridge as he tried to keep hold of his Rolex Watch suspect pulled knife & stabbed victim👇 Man in 30s knifed to death ‘for his Rolex’ outside five-star hotel in Knightsbridge - LBC lbc.co.uk/crime/incident…
Skinade collagen drink available in a cafe in Sloane Square, next to cookies and juices.
Instead of spending £379 billion every year on welfare, we could perhaps try and save a bit of money for jury trials. @Keir_Starmer
To understand the context of Leveson’s call for restricting jury trial, look at the terms of reference. Govt wouldn’t let him recommend increased funding. Akin to demanding a solution to starvation that doesn’t include food. And the recommendation being to chop off body parts.
The judgment isn’t available in English yet, but see the summary in the link below. No excise duty on fictitious deliveries and false invoices; no release for consumption necessary for excise duty (interested to see what they said about “irregularity” in the judgment though).
Nine months after gaining jurisdiction to hear preliminary rulings, the #EUGeneralCourt delivers its first judgment: legislation imposing #ExciseDuties on fictitious deliveries and false invoices is incompatible with #EUlaw 👉 curia.europa.eu/jcms/jcms/Jo2_…
Great thread by Joanna. But this is my least favourite argument: a modern belief that humans can’t understand or sympathise beyond lived experience, requiring direct representation. Where does it end? Gay judges can’t judge straight sex offenders? Former addict judges for PWITS?
Do Circuit Judges represent a cross-section of society? How often do they share experiences with those in the dock? Of the care system? Addiction? Poverty? Racism? Of being poor? Of being a pregnant 17 year old? A jury gives a fighting chance of someone understanding your life.
Some big (research) news: my book on Taxation and Inequalities is out! Sometimes life comes at you fast. The book went on sale the day of my father's funeral, and I wasn't present at its formal launch in Bergen. Nevertheless, it's out there now, in all its glory.
'If the language used by the lawgiver is ignored in favour of a general resort to "values" the result is not interpretation but divination.' State v Zuma [1995] (4) BCLR 401, 412, SA Const'l Ct per Kentridge AJ.
HMRC and UKBF do a good job assessing smugglers for penalties, but the issue is that cigarettes are imported through ports and airports in small amounts extremely frequently by travellers, all funded by criminal gangs. It’s hard to stop them without manpower and intelligence.
Oh look there's a Laffer curve for cigarettes. I wonder if there might be one for anything else bbc.co.uk/news/articles/…
There's been a 44% rise in street crime, record levels of shop theft and a million incidents of anti-social behaviour. We refuse to accept this for our towns. This summer, police forces are increasing targeted patrols to protect businesses from harm and increase public safety.
In recent weeks, the Court of Appeal in Getty v Stability turned around an urgent mid-trial appeal within two days. Today, the High Court released a written judgment on interim relief in relation to Palestine Action by close of play. What a testament to the British legal system.
