MELANIE HALL QC

QC BA (Dunelm)
CALL DATE: 1982 SILK: 2002

SUMMARY

Described as a 'sensational litigator' Melanie Hall has been an acknowledged leader in the field of VAT for many years. She has acted in landmark cases which have shaped the structure and boundaries of VAT and other indirect taxes. In recent months she has defended the legality of the very existence of the Aggregates Levy; VAT on hot takeaway food, the UK's VAT Grouping legislation and the Landfill Tax. She is highly regarded by the European Court of Justice, the Supreme Court, the Court of Appeal and Tax Tribunals, having appeared in key cases such as Wellcome, Midland Bank, Abbey National, Weald Leasing, Beynon and Kretztechnik.

She is a tenacious and well-respected advocate with a particular reputation for rigorous cross examination, thorough legal research and effective and persuasive presentation. She is also respected for her ability to communicate complex points of law to both clients and courts with simplicity and clarity. Her background as a commercial litigator and an EU Law specialist is particularly valued by clients.

Melanie has advised and acted for many household name clients in the retail sector, food and catering, charities, education, telecoms, aviation, banking and other financial services, credit and debit card handling, insurance, publishing, entertainment, education, property, tourism, timeshare, local authorities, gambling, premier league football and the motor industry.

In addition to VAT, Melanie has conducted high profile litigation in other fields, including commercial litigation and employment.

MAJOR CASES

RCI: Timeshare exchange; subscription fees; place of supply; double taxation; property
Weald Leasing: Halifax and abusive practices
TNT and Royal Mail: whether VAT is payable on postal services
Mobilx, Calltel and Blue Sphere: MTIC fraud
Vodafone: Top Up Cards, face value vouchers
Newcastle United FC: agency fees
Boots the Chemist: retail schemes
Mayflower Theatre Trust: input tax attribution
Abbey National: TOGC, input tax
The Wellcome Foundation: input tax on share sales
Gregg: the medical care exemption
EC v UK: infraction proceedings re VAT Grouping legislation
Sub-One: VAT on hot takeaway food
EDS: VAT treatment of call centres
Beynon: the scope of the VAT exemption for medical care, Card Protection Plan
Dollond & Aitchison: import VAT and customs duties
Midland Bank: VAT treatment of overheads
Southern Primary: input tax attribution
Church Schools Foundation: charities
Institute of Chartered Accountants: VAT treatment of regulatory bodies
Eastbourne: VAT treatment of unincorporated associations
Mirror Group and Kretztechnik: VAT treatment of share issues
Factortame: the largest ever Community Law damages action against the State
Patersons of Greenoakhill: the scope of the Landfill Tax

EMPLOYMENT LAW

Melanie Hall tends to specialise in test cases on points of principle affecting thousands of employees. She acted for the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry in the case of Godfrey concerning the qualifying period with regard to claims for unfair dismissal, managing to defeat the claim on the basis of a rigorous analysis of the statistics and case law. She also appeared in the widely reported case of Rutherford and Bentley, a test case concerning upper age limits in the Employment Rights Act. Through these and other cases, she can fairly claim to be an expert in this difficult area of law concerning indirect discrimination and objective justification. She has effectively cross examined statisticians on the issue of disparate impact and has an in-depth knowledge of the finer statistical issues which arise in these cases.

Important Cases:

Allonby v Accrington College
Godfrey v DTI
Rutherford v DTI
Bell v CPS

GENERAL COMMERCIAL LITIGATION

Throughout her career at the Bar, Melanie has acted for private clients in general commercial litigation encompassing a broad range of areas such as aviation, professional negligence and construction law. She has acted for an impressive range of clients such as Eurostar, Holmes Place Plc and the National Farmers Union.

VAT

Since 1992 she has regularly advised and appeared in cases concerning VAT. She has appeared before VAT tribunals in London, Manchester and Birmingham, the High Court, Court of Appeal, Supreme Court and European Court of Justice. She is, additionally, a member of the Tax Journal Editorial Board.

Although she acts for the Commissioners in many areas, she is frequently engaged by taxpayers, representing a broad range of clients from local authorities, universities and charities (large and small) to well-known large traders, high street retailers, banks and other financial institutions, telecommunications providers, pharmaceutical companies, premier league football clubs and gambling operators. She is particularly renowned for her expertise on the old and new legislation concerning face value vouchers.

Having acted in Midland Bank (ECJ), Abbey National (ECJ), Kretztechnik (ECJ), Wellcome (ECJ), Dr Beynon (HL), Redrow (HL), Southern Primary (CA), Mayflower Theatre Trust (CA) and Tremerton (HC), Melanie has a particularly sound grounding in cases concerning input tax attribution, a subject on which she regularly advises both the Commissioners and taxpayers.

The cases of Wellcome (ECJ), Institute of Chartered Accountants (HL), Mirror Group Newspapers (CA); Kretztechnik (ECJ), St Paul's Community Project (HC), and Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust (Trib) have equipped Melanie to advise a range of clients on the scope of the concepts of “business” and “economic activity”.

Since Melanie acts for and is therefore respected by both the Commissioners and the private sector, both sets of clients can take comfort from the fact that any legal opinion she expresses will be respected by the other side.

Melanie is familiar with most aspects of VAT. Reported cases in which she has appeared are too numerous to list but include:

European Court of Justice

HSBC and Accenture: Stamp duty reserve tax
Weald Leasing: Abusive Practices
TNT Post: The postal services exemption
RCI Europe: Place of supply of property related services
The Wellcome Foundation: input tax on share sales
Gregg: the medical care exemption
British Aggregates Association v European Commission: State Aid
Midland Bank: the attribution of residual input tax by a partially exempt trader
Abbey National: whether there is an entitlement to deduct input tax incurred on the transfer of assets
Dollond & Aitchison: the relationship between VAT and customs duties
Liberexim: duty points
Kretztechnik: share issues

Supreme Court

Eastbourne Town Radio Cars Association: the VAT treatment of unincorporated associations
Redrow: the destination of a supply for the purposes of claiming an input tax credit
Institute of Chartered Accountants: scope of economic activity
Dr. Beynon: medical care exemption, Card Protection Plan