John O’Donnell

John head’s up the VAT and Dispute Resolution Team and is highly regarded as a specialist within HM Revenue & Customs Investigations. John brings more than 27 years of experience in assisting both corporate and individual clients in resolving disputes with HMRC at all levels and advising on VAT matters that are subject to serious fraud or investigation.

John has specialised in contentious tax matters for over twenty years being involved in a variety of fraud, corporate governance and tax investigation cases. He also acts as an Expert Witness giving evidence in the High Court, Crown Court, Magistrates Court in England, and in the Sheriff and High Court in Scotland. He has substantial experience in dealing with matters before the First Tier (Tax) Tribunal.

In 2007, John authored a tax digest entitled “VAT Investigations” published by Tottel’s, a publisher of books and information services for lawyers, accountants and business professionals

• HM Customs & Excise Investigation Division, Senior Investigator – December 1984-March 1998
• PricewaterhouseCoopers, Senior Manager Tax Investigations – March 1998 – October 2005
• Chiltern plc, Director of Tax Investigations – November 2005 – November 2007
• BDO Stoy Hayward LLP, Director of Tax Investigations – October 2007 – July 2009
• BTG Tax LLP, Partner Tax Investigations – August 2009 – August 2011
• Jackson Moughal, Head of Tax Disputes and Litigation – September 2011 – present

Code 9 Investigations
VAT, Excise & Customs duty investigations
HMRC Prosecutions
Money Laundering and Proceeds of Crime/Confiscation Cases
Proceedings before the First Tier (Tax) Tribunal