Natasha Barnes

Call 2010

“I am trying and failing to think of a better junior. Her written work is up there with any barrister I can think of. She is clear, direct and a pleasure to work with. Incredibly clever and really in demand.”

Chambers and Partners 2024
Photo of Natasha Barnes

  • Recommendations

    Client/solicitor testimonials and legal directory recommendations:

    2024:

    Chambers and Partners

    Ranked in:

    • Immigration: “She is clear, direct and a pleasure to work with. She is incredibly clever and really in demand.” “Formidable but fair.”
    • Administrative & Public Law: “Natasha is really impressive and she has a very collaborative approach to working.” “She is very clever and hard-working.”
    • Tax: “Both an excellent drafter and really good on her feet.” “A very confident advocate, who presents authoritatively.”
    • Civil Liberties and Human Rights: “I am trying and failing to think of a better junior. Her written work is up there with any barrister I can think of. She is clear, direct and a pleasure to work with. Incredibly clever and really in demand.”

    The Legal 500

    Ranked in:

    • Tax – VAT and Excise: Rising Star
    • Administrative Law and Human Rights: Leading Junior
    • Immigration: “Natasha is extremely bright, quick to see the key points in a case and very good on her feet. She has a real in-depth knowledge of Immigration law.”

    2023:

    Chambers & Partners

    Ranked in:

    • Tax: “Natasha is great at cross-examining and compelling in terms of her oral submissions”. “She is very crisp and on point with submissions, and just an excellent advocate”.
    • Administrative & Public Law: “Natasha is a really excellent junior: very bright, efficient and utterly dependable”. “She is extremely good with clients and really nice to work with”.
    • Civil Liberties: “An excellent practitioner”

    Legal 500:

    Ranked in:

    • Administrative Law & Human Rights: ‘Superb written work. Excellent client skills. A very reliable team player.’   
    • Immigration: ‘Superb written work. Excellent client skills. A very reliable team player.’   
    • VAT & Excise: A rising star.

    2022:

    Chambers & Partners

    Ranked in:

    • Administrative & Public Law: ‘She is incredibly diligent, reliable and an excellent team member. It’s a really great experience working with her.’ ‘A fantastic, extremely hard-working junior barrister.’
    • Human Rights: ‘Natasha Barnes is brilliant. I would recommend her very highly.’
    • Immigration: ‘An intelligent and thoughtful junior who is impressive.’
    • Indirect Tax: ‘She argues her cases well, is bright and has great judgment.’ ‘She is hard-working and has a very strong understanding of tax law.’

    Legal 500:

    Ranked in:

    • Administrative & Public Law: ‘She is very clever and hard-working. She has great judgement – you feel much better knowing that she is in the team.’
    • Immigration: ‘Very thorough and one of the best juniors around at drafting.’
    • VAT: ‘Extremely hard working and a strategic thinker. Excellent client manner. Efficient. Responsive. A pleasure to work with. A highly talented all rounder.’

    Comments from previous directories:

    • ‘She is very responsible and always goes the extra mile. Very bright and easy to get along with’. ‘She is very responsible and always goes the extra mile.’ (C&P 2021)
    • ‘A rising star with enormous capacity for hard work. She grasps the technical detail extremely well and is superb on her feet too.’ (Legal 500 2020).

  • Beyond the Bar

    Away from work, Natasha loves the outdoors and enjoys trying to improve her cooking.

  • Education

    Called to the Bar (Gray’s Inn): July 2010

    BVC at BBP Law School, London – James Crouch Scholar

    CPE at City Law School, London – Gray’s Inn Scholar

    BA Hons in History at Cambridge – Dorothy Forster Sturman Scholar, Ligner Scholar  

  • Appointments

    Attorney General’s Panel of Civil Counsel A Counsel – September 2022

Business & Property

Natasha specialises in all areas of indirect tax. She is instructed in cases before the Court of Appeal, Upper Tribunal and First-tier Tribunal involving the interpretation of EU directives, fiscal neutrality, the place of supply, triangulation, partial exemption and human rights in relation to tax law.

Cases

Court of Appeal

  • HMRC v Ampleaward [2021] EWCA Civ 1459: Lead counsel (leading Paul Reynolds) against Kieron Beal KC in £40 million test case concerning the lawfulness of the ‘fall back’ provisions. The Court of Appeal complimented Natasha’s ‘outstandingly able’ submissions in the course of its decision.
  • HMRC v Life Services [2020] EWCA Civ 452: Led by Jonathan Davey KC in lead appeal about whether the UK can treat supplies of welfare services differently for VAT purposes across its devolved nations.

Upper Tribunal

  • Borough Council of Kings Lynn v HMRC [2022] UKUT 00326: Acting on behalf of a local authority in the Upper Tribunal in a challenge to HMRC’s decision concerning the correct VAT treatment of pay-as-you-go parking.
  • Zeman v HMRC [2021] UKUT 182: Sole counsel against Adrian Essa KC in appeal concerning whether the FTT can consider public law challenges in a statutory appeal. Listed in Tax Journal as a key case of 2021.
  • MCL v HMRC [2021] UKUT 292: Sole counsel in a 2-day appeal concerning when a supplier can establish that its customer was ‘usually resident’ outside the Community.
  • LGT v HMRC [2021] UKUT 36: Appeal concerning whether supplies of family accommodation placements were exempt from VAT as ‘welfare supplies’.

First-tier Tribunal

  • DFS v HMRC [2022] UKFTT 153: Lead counsel (leading Paul Reynolds) against Valentina Sloane KC in 2-week high-value VAT partial exemption dispute between HMRC and DFS (a FTSE company with £1 billion annual turnover).
  • Credit Suisse v HMRC: Led by Owain Thomas KC in an appeal concerning the correct treatment of IT supplies. The value of the appeal is estimated at more than £100 million.
  • XX v HMRC: Appeal concerning extent to which one of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies can recover input tax on supplies of marketing services under the Tour Operators Margins Scheme.
  • Greencyc v HMRC: Lead counsel (leading Rajkiran Barhey) in MTIC appeal.