Field Court Tax Chambers

Philip Baker KC has regularly acted in significant international litigation.  Earlier this year, the Court of Justice of the European Union handed down its judgment in the long-running dispute between the UK Government and the European Commission concerning whether or not the UK’s tax regime, as regards the profits of controlled foreign companies (‘CFCs’), gave rise to unlawful State aid.  Philip Baker KC appeared for HM Government in successfully challenging the Commission’s previous finding (of 2019) that the UK tax rules relating to CFCs granted State aid to some UK companies.  In overturning both the Commission and the General Court, the CJEU held that the interpretation advanced by the UK was consistent with the language of the relevant statute (TIOPA 2010).  A copy of the judgment can be found here: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A62022CJ0555&qid=1395932669976
Philip Baker KC also acted for the Irish government in the case of Commission v Ireland and Apple, where the CJEU overturned the General Court’s judgment and upheld the Commission’s decision, finding that the profit allocation methods within the Apple group constituted incompatible State aid to Apple and ordered the recovery of EUR 14.3 billion by the Irish government.  A copy of the judgment can be found here: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A62020CJ0465

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