Kate Ison

Kate Ison
  1. People /

Kate Ison

Kate Ison

Partner


London
Kate Ison
  1. People /

Kate Ison

Kate Ison

Partner


London

Kate Ison

Partner

London

T: +44 (0) 20 3400 4488

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Biography

Kate is a Partner in Tax Advice and Controversy. She is experienced in advising on and resolving complex and high value tax disputes.

Kate’s practice covers the full life cycle of a tax matter and she advises on both direct and indirect taxes and excise duties. She assists clients with corporate tax risk and compliance issues, internal corporate investigations, managing civil enquiries and criminal investigations by HM Revenue and Customs, responding to information requests, and resolving disputes either through negotiation or litigation. She has significant experience in conducting tax appeals at all levels of the court including the First-Tier Tribunal, the Upper Tribunal, the High Court and the Court of Appeal. She also advises on non-tax focused enquiries where HMRC is the investigative or supervisory agency, including export control and AML issues.

Kate continues to be ranked as a Leading Partner for Tax Litigation and Investigations by Legal 500 UK 2025, and as a Notable Practitioner in Tax: Contentious in Chambers UK 2025.

She has high EQ, quickly assessing how to get the most out of her team, clients and counsel to achieve the desired outcomes.

Legal 500 UK 2025

Kate is a knowledgeable, cool, calm adviser who is able to provide strategic guidance in a considered way.

Chambers UK 2025

Clients have previously commented:

She is super clever and thorough. She's a great team player and she's very good with clients.

Admissions

  • England and Wales

Related Practice Areas

  • Tax Advice & Controversy

  • Financial Institutions

  • Anti-Money Laundering Compliance

  • International Trade

  • Real Estate

  • Securities Litigation and Enforcement

  • Tax & Private Client

  • Anti-Bribery & Corruption

  • Tax Controversy

  • Taxation of Financial Transactions & Institutions

  • Real Estate Tax

  • VAT & Indirect Taxes

  • Corporate

  • Finance

  • Litigation & Dispute Resolution

  • Regulation, Compliance & Advisory

Experience

Recent examples of Kate’s work include advising:

  • A number of multi-national groups on diverted profits tax and transfer pricing enquiries opened by HMRC under COP8.
  • Hannover Leasing in an SDLT appeal to the First-tier Tribunal concerning the application of s75A FA 2003.
  • Various corporates on VAT repayment claims in the pension fund context.
  • A multi-national logistics group on a customs investigation and relevant compliance issues.
  • Hedge funds and corporates on enquiries by HMRC into the PAYE and NICs treatment of amounts paid to employees and directors.
  • A number of financial institutions and real estate firms on compliance with the corporate criminal offences of failure to prevent the facilitation of tax evasion under the Criminal Finances Act 2017.   
  • A multi-national chemicals group on a criminal investigation by HMRC Fraud Investigation Services and prosecution by the CPS into alleged breaches of the export control regime.

Resources

Publications

Privilege considerations in tax investigations - Tax Journal (February 2024)

Related Insights

Insights
Mar 06, 2024

Spring Budget 2024

It has been a busy Budget for the real estate sector today, particularly for the residential sector.  The big announcement was the proposal to abolish SDLT’s multiple dwellings relief (“MDR”).  This came as a surprise and for those seeking to rely on the relief for a completion on or after 1 June 2024, they may have been racing to exchange today to lock in MDR on the acquisition.  However, there was some good news for those trying to access the housing market.  The government is proposing to withdraw the furnished holiday letting regime and reduce the higher rate of CGT for those who pay CGT on selling residential properties as these are intended to improve access to housing. But elsewhere reform for SDLT was relatively light.  The government did not respond to lobbying in a few targeted areas. A downsizer’s relief and keeping the current lower thresholds beyond March 2025 were not mentioned.  In further good news the government gave the green light to a new non-authorised fund vehicle, to be called the reserved investor fund or “RIF”.
Insights
Feb 29, 2024

Spring Budget 2024 – will we see material reform?

Budgets are normally stories of two halves.  The first half contains the headline-grabbing tax policy reforms that can be encapsulated in a snappy soundbite in the Budget speech, such as “Chancellor scraps the non-dom regime”.  The second half typically contains more detailed reform packages, which may involve a significant overhaul of a regime past its sell by date, a complex new initiative or a tightening of a measure that doesn’t work as well as it could.  The latter could be viewed as the “business as usual” reform of the tax system, including to make it simpler and to make the UK more competitive. If the Autumn Statement is anything to go by, and particularly bearing in mind the timing of the next General Election, we can expect the Budget on 6 March to be disproportionately focused towards the first half in the hope that carefully considered announcements will shift the dial on voting sentiment.  We expect the Budget to get very political and wonder whether 6 March may see further missed opportunities to reform the tax system.
News
Feb 20, 2024

Chambers Global 2024

Related Insights

Awards
Oct 17, 2024
Chambers 2025 UK guide ranks BCLP in 34 practice areas and recognises 74 individual lawyers
News
Oct 02, 2024
The Legal 500 UK ranks BCLP in 52 practice areas and recognizes 69 lawyers as “leading individuals”
Awards
Aug 28, 2024
BCLP’s UK Tax Team recognized in ITR ‘World Tax’ rankings 2025
Insights
Mar 06, 2024
Spring Budget 2024
It has been a busy Budget for the real estate sector today, particularly for the residential sector.  The big announcement was the proposal to abolish SDLT’s multiple dwellings relief (“MDR”).  This came as a surprise and for those seeking to rely on the relief for a completion on or after 1 June 2024, they may have been racing to exchange today to lock in MDR on the acquisition.  However, there was some good news for those trying to access the housing market.  The government is proposing to withdraw the furnished holiday letting regime and reduce the higher rate of CGT for those who pay CGT on selling residential properties as these are intended to improve access to housing. But elsewhere reform for SDLT was relatively light.  The government did not respond to lobbying in a few targeted areas. A downsizer’s relief and keeping the current lower thresholds beyond March 2025 were not mentioned.  In further good news the government gave the green light to a new non-authorised fund vehicle, to be called the reserved investor fund or “RIF”.
Insights
Feb 29, 2024
Spring Budget 2024 – will we see material reform?
Budgets are normally stories of two halves.  The first half contains the headline-grabbing tax policy reforms that can be encapsulated in a snappy soundbite in the Budget speech, such as “Chancellor scraps the non-dom regime”.  The second half typically contains more detailed reform packages, which may involve a significant overhaul of a regime past its sell by date, a complex new initiative or a tightening of a measure that doesn’t work as well as it could.  The latter could be viewed as the “business as usual” reform of the tax system, including to make it simpler and to make the UK more competitive. If the Autumn Statement is anything to go by, and particularly bearing in mind the timing of the next General Election, we can expect the Budget on 6 March to be disproportionately focused towards the first half in the hope that carefully considered announcements will shift the dial on voting sentiment.  We expect the Budget to get very political and wonder whether 6 March may see further missed opportunities to reform the tax system.
News
Feb 20, 2024
Chambers Global 2024
News
Oct 19, 2023
Chambers UK Ranks BCLP in 41 practice areas and recognizes 74 lawyers
Awards
Oct 04, 2023
The Legal 500 UK ranks BCLP in 54 practice areas and recognizes 74 lawyers as “leading individuals”
News
Sep 07, 2023
BCLP recognized in ‘World Tax’ rankings 2023