James Kessler KC
- Other interests include prosecution of tax crime in complex cases, particularly along the avoidance/evasion faultline.
- Recent cases include: Embiricos v Revenue & Customs [2020] UKUT 370 (TCC)
- James has practiced as a barrister since 1985 and as QC since 2003. He is also a member of the Bar of Northern Ireland.
- He is in Band 1 in Chambers Directory in the Private Client Tax category, with a reference to “acumen and remarkable thoroughness of thought” and in Band 1 in the Legal 500 directory which comments: “The leading expert on the taxation of non-domiciled individuals.”
- James is one of the founders of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners, for whom he drafted the STEP Standard Provisions, and a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Taxation.
- James has received the Geoffrey Shindler Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Profession (STEP Private Client Awards, 2011).
- James became Head of Chambers in 2015
- Languages: Working Portuguese, German & Hebrew
- A Taxpayer v HMRC [2022] UKFTT 133 (TC)
- Revenue and Customs v Empaminondas Embiricos (partial closure notice) [2020] UKUT 370 (TCC)
- Embiricos v Revenue and Customs Commissioners [2019] SFTD 795 and [2019] UKFTT 236 (TC)
- Ardmore Construction Ltd v Revenue and Customs Commissioners
- Ardmore Construction Ltd v Revenue and Customs Commissioners
- Burns and another v Revenue and Customs Commissioners; SpC 728
- Unilever (UK) Holdings Ltd v Smith (Inspector of Taxes)
- Regina v. Dimsey; Regina v. Allen
- Unilever (UK) Holdings Ltd v Smith (Inspector of Taxes)
- Regina v Dimsey ; Regina v Allen
- Unilever (UK) Holdings Ltd v Smith (Inspector of Taxes)
- R v Dimsey R v Allen
- REGINA v. DIMSEY ; REGINA v. ALLEN
- R v Inland Revenue Commissioners, ex parte Unilever plc and related application
- R v Inland Revenue Commissioners, ex parte Unilever plc and related application
- Dawson v Inland Revenue Commissioners
- Legal Directory 2024 Bar Rankings
- Chambers High Net Worth 2023
- Legal 500 - Shortlist 2023
- Drafting Trusts & Will Trusts in the Channel Islands, by James Kessler, KC and Paul Matthams
- Chambers and Partners UK Bar Awards 2022
- Judgment – RE: A taxpayer v HMRC
- Taxation of Nonresidents and Foreign Domiciliaries – 2022/23 edition
- James Kessler QC and Rebecca Sheldon in first case on Statutory Residence Test
- First hybrid seminar on Cryptoassets, Securities and Mistakes
- Old Square Tax Chambers ranked in Chambers and Partners for the UK Bar 2022
- James Kessler QC shortlisted for Tax Silk of the Year
- Chambers and Partners – High Net Worth Guide 2021
- Upper Tribunal grants permission to appeal in Embiricos
- Taxation of Internationally Mobile Employees
- Legal 500 2021 Rankings
- Ranked as a leading set in Chambers HNW
- Developments in Offshore Taxation
- Publication of ‘Taxation of Non-Residents and Foreign Domiciliaries’
- Covid-19: Temporary Measures to Support Our Clients
- Free Seminar on Private Client Tax Developments
- Old Square Tax Chambers ranked as a leading set
- Old Square Tax Chambers ranked in Chambers and Partners
- London Legal Walk 2019
- Tax Planning for 2019 – Key Haven Publications Ltd
- Non-Doms after the Budget
- Key Haven 2024 - PRACTICAL TAX PLANNING 2023
- Hybrid seminar - Alternatives to family trusts If conventional trusts are ruled out for IHT reasons – what can be done instead?
- Chambers Webinar - Corporate residence and hybrid entities
- Private Client Tax Developments
- Developments in Offshore Taxation
- Taxation of Internationally Mobile Employees
- Hybrid seminar on Crypto Assets, Securities and Mistakes
- Key Haven Publications 2022 – 40th Annual Oxford Four-Silk Sixteen-Speaker
- Key Haven Publications 2021 – 39th Annual Oxford Four-Silk Fourteen-Speaker Residential Seminar
- Key Haven Tax Planning Webinar
- KEY HAVEN PUBLICATIONS LTD – PRACTICAL TAX PLANNING 2019
- Drafting Trusts & Will Trusts
- Taxation of Charities and Nonprofit Organisations
- Taxation of Foreign Domiciliaries
- Drafting Trusts and Will Trusts in Australia
- Drafting Trusts & Will Trusts in Canada
- Drafting Cayman Islands Trusts
- Drafting Trusts and Will Trusts in Singapore
- Drafting Trusts and Will Trusts in the Channel Islands
- Drafting Trusts and Will Trusts in New Zealand
- Drafting Trusts and Will Trusts in Northern Ireland
- Drafting Trusts and Will Trusts in Scotland
- Drafting British Virgin Island Trusts
- James is one of the founders of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners, for whom he drafted the STEP Standard Provisions
- Geoffrey Shindler Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Profession (STEP Private Client Awards, 2011)
- Languages: Working Portuguese, German & Hebrew
- Chartered Institute of Taxation
James Kessler KC is regulated by the Bar Standards Board