Patrick Boch

Patrick Boch practices in all areas of tax law, as well as chancery, insolvency and commercial.  He is an experienced advocate.

He has particular expertise in tax-related civil litigation.  This includes professional negligence claims against tax advisors, HMRC-lead petitions and the Danish cum/ex dividend litigation. 

He also has particular knowledge of avoidance schemes.  In addition to having advised on a number of disputes involving these, he wrote his LLM dissertation on the GAAR and is a former member of the Solicitor’s Office at HMRC.  He is a member of the Attorney-General’s ‘C’ Panel of Junior Counsel to the Crown.

He regularly advises on tax issues ranging from regular private client matters to more niche areas, which have included tax issues arising from POCA orders, the possibility of extradition for tax related offences and cross-border enforcement of tax debts following Brexit.  He is a Chartered Tax Adviser, holding the Avery Jones Medal for the highest result in his application paper, and has acted as an expert witness on UK tax law in a commercial dispute before a Polish court. 

He is also well placed to advise on international and cross-border issues.  As a dual-qualified Indian Advocate, he can advise on Indian law, including tax, foreign exchange regulations and other matters.  He is fluent in Hindi, Danish and Polish.  

Tribunal litigation

Patrick Boch has extensive experience of litigation before the Tax Tribunals.  His recent cases include the following:

• Janet Bray Ltd [2024] UKFTT 787 (discovery assessment – whether a director or her advisers were careless when implementing a scheme involving a long-term loan from an EBT.)
• Shinelock Ltd [2023] STC 976 (appeal against FTT’s decision in [2021] UKFTT 320 – the substantive issues concerned the loan relationship code and distribution rule – procedural issues: the FTT’s jurisdiction.) 
• Thursford [2022] UKFTT 240 (eligibility of the Thursford Christmas Spectacular for theatre tax relief – whether it was an “other dramatic piece” and whether the performers were wholly or mainly playing “roles”.)
• A number of SDLT cases on the definition of  “residential property” in s.116(1) FA 2003, including The How Development Ltd [2023] UKUT 84 (appeal from FTT in [2021] UKFTT 248) and Landmaster Investment Ltd [2024] SFTD 139 (SDLT treatment of options and rights of pre-emption). 

Litigation Before the Courts

Patrick Boch is regularly instructed in civil disputes giving rise to tax issues, including: 

• The Danish cum/ex dividend withholding tax case litigation (one of the largest cases to come before the English High Court – claim by Danish tax authority worth £1.2bn in refunded Danish withholding tax – allegations that applications for withholding tax refunds amounted to misrepresentations – wrote reports on ‘reasonable reliance’ and other issues arising from 4,000 pages of Danish language documents.) 
• Professional negligence, including advice on whether tax advisers were negligent.   
• Bankruptcy petitions brought by HMRC, including issues as to whether tax was actually due under TMA 1970, and whether a bankrupt had capacity at the time she was served with a petition.  
• Commercial litigation, including, in a case in the Chancery Division, the tax treatment of interim and final dividends and whether a witness was truthful in light of the tax effects of certain transactions.   
• Advising, in a civil dispute concerning a a death estate, whether an IHT determination was binding on the client, and how, under a settlement agreement, the amount of IHT reimbursable by a party should be calculated. 

Mr Boch is also regularly instructed on general (non-tax-related) matters.  Examples of cases include the following: 

• A commercial dispute against a major technology company, involving (at the present stage) procedural and jurisdictional issues, e.g. whether a claim form could be served abroad without permission of the court.    
• Probate disputes, e.g. a dispute as to whether the deceased lacked testamentary capacity on account of extreme grief following the death of his brother.
• Insolvency litigation, including issues such as ‘disputed debts’ and applications concerning trustees.

Arbitration

Patrick Boch undertakes arbitrations as counsel, and is seeking appointments as arbitrator.  He studied international commercial arbitration as part of his LLM.  His recent cases include: 

• A dispute under the LCIA rules between a US company and a large Russian conglomerate as to whether the US company was entitled to liquidated damages of $4m upon termination.  The arbitration was governed by New York law.    
• An arbitration under the BAS Rules of the ChArb brought against a US fertility agency, which had arranged commercial surrogacy services.  The issues included whether the contract was unlawful and void ab initio;  and whether the claimants were entitled to a restitutionary remedy in spite of the services having been provided, and a daughter having been born.   

He also has experience drafting complex, multi-party arbitration agreements. 

Tax and Chancery Advice

Patrick Boch regularly advises on complex tax matters, most commonly within the private client sphere.  Recent cases include advice on: 

• The restructuring of a large property portfolio spread over a number of companies. 
• The statutory residence test.
• Whether certain Botox treatments were medical or cosmetic for VAT purposes.
• Whether (a) UK withholding tax was to be deducted on interest payments made by a foreign company, owning a £50m UK property, to a foreign lender; (b) the tax position would change upon the company’s business being placed in a Jersey trust; and (c) a variation of the loan agreement would be caught by inter alia the unallowable purpose rules. 
• HMRC’s ability to demand payment of tax in circumstances where a taxpayer had made a payment to the Scottish Ministers on settlement of Proceeds of Crime Act proceedings relating to alleged tax evasion. 
• Whether a resident of one of the Channel Islands could be extradited to France if she refused to pay a disputed tax assessment imposed by the French authorities, and whether that assessment could be enforced in the Channel Islands or in the United Kingdom. 
• The mechanics of the TMA, including enquiry, assessment and information powers.

Mr Boch has also acted as an expert witness in a commercial case before a Polish court, concerning whether raw tobacco was subject to customs duty in the United Kingdom and whether the UK Customs authority lawfully seized those goods. 

He regularly advises on trust and probate issues, including on executors’ powers and duties, as well as on complex issues, such as whether a bridging loan taken by a deceased shortly before her suicide was regulated under the Consumer Credit Act. 

Finally, he has advised on charity law – notably whether the provision of certain equipment to Ukrainian soldiers constituted an exclusively charitable purpose.

Fertility Law

Patrick Boch has extensive experience on the niche area of fertility law.  This has included advice on:

• Canadian regulations, made under the Assisted Human Reproduction Act, intended to preclude commercial IVF donation and surrogacy arrangements in Canada.
• Complex cross-border fertility arrangements involving clinics, donors, surrogates, and others, including drafting agreement and consent forms for those arrangements.
• Whether a subject access request includes a right to genetic raw data of embryos.
• Cross-border conflict of law issues, e.g. whether one country’s prohibitions against gender selection have effect in another country, where gender selection is permitted.
• Ethical and consent issues, e.g. a surrogate mother’s position in the event the intended parents decide to discontinue after pregnancy.