Timothy Lyons, QC, is a specialist in UK and EU direct and indirect tax, EU customs and WTO law. He represents taxpayers, and occasionally advises governments, in cases which cover domestic and international direct taxation, VAT, EU anti-dumping duty, customs duty, trade and state aid law.

Timothy Lyons is also Assistant Editor (European Law) of the British Tax Review, a consulting editor for the EC Tax Journal, and the author of the highly-regarded book EC Customs Law.
He is a Visiting Professor at the London School of Economics and the University of Porto and an occasional lecturer at the International Bureau of Fiscal Documentation (Amsterdam) and the International Tax Centre (Leiden).

Areas of Expertise

• Direct and Indirect Tax
• EC Law - Customs, WTO, trade and state aid and international law
• Public Policy

Reported Cases

• Case C-419/02 BUPA Hospitals Ltd v CCE [2006] ECR I-1685 (ECJ) heard together with Halifax plc v CCE [2006] ECR I-1609: VAT input tax and abuse
• R v Dimsey [2002] 1 AC 509, [2001] UKHL 46 (House of Lords) transfer of assets abroad, human rights and cheating the public revenue
• Case C-296/95 The Queen v CCE, ex parte EMU Tabac SARL [1998] ECR I-1605 (ECJ): Excise duty on cross-border movements of goods

Publications

• EC Customs Law, 2nd edition, March 2008 (OUP)
  "...simply the most up to date and comprehensive handbook on customs matters currently available in the English language."
  "This is a book for lawyers litigating customs cases in Court, for the judges that will have to decide those cases, for scholars but also for those dealing with legal customs issues in the national customs administrations or in private companies."
• Davide Rovetta, Global Trade and Customs Journal Vol 4, Issue 11/12, p409-410.
  "What is now commonly referred to as "Lyons" has become, since its first edition, a standard reference work for practitioners in the field of trade and customs legislation and will without any doubt continue to be so for a long time to come."
• Jean-Michel Grave [2009] CMLRev. 1363.
• Christina Moëll of the European Law Review noted of the 1st edition: "The writing is skilful... Such an achievement could not have been possible without the author's profound knowledge and experience of the subject. ...It is essential reading to all those concerned with trade and customs law.."
• Both the first and second editions have been cited in Opinions of Advocates General in the ECJ.
• Contributor to Value Added Tax: Commentary & Analysis (Sweet & Maxwell) August 2009.
• European Cross-Border Estate Planning (Sweet and Maxwell)
• Gen Editor: Timothy Lyons. Looseleaf up-dated regularly. Timothy Lyons' introduction is "compulsory reading for international estate planners" according to the Foreword by John F Avery Jones CBE. Endorsed by STEP.
• The International Guide to the Taxation of Trusts (IBFD: Editor with Anuschka Bakker)
  Looseleaf: updated regularly.
• Tax, Customs, and EU Law (scroll down for Private Client Tax)
• State Aid, Tax and Abuse of Law. A chapter in Prohibition of Abuse of Law ed.
• Rita de la Feria and anr, Hart Publishing, forthcoming.
• Philips Electronics Ltd v HMRC: More unjustifiable restrictions on loss relief, British Tax Review, 2010
• Expert Comment, CFC Proposals: Is the proposed regime EU compliant?,Tax Journal,February 2010
• Charity only begins at home, STEP Journal, April 2009
• The Contemporary Usufruct with R Frimston, Private Client Business, 2009
• Promoting Good Governance in Tax Matters, British Tax Review, 2009
• Notes on Commission Regulation (Entry and Exit Summary Declarations etc.) Highlights and Insights on European Taxation, 2009
• Class IV ACT: limited benefits for all, British Tax Review, 2007
• What will the ECJ decide tomorrow?, British Tax Review, 2006
• Marks & Spencer: something for everyone, British Tax Review, 2006
• A drive to curb the power of the ECJ, British Tax Review, 2005
• Marks & Spencer: striking a balance, British Tax Review, 2005
• Film Schemes and the Limitations of GAAR - A Case from New Zealand, Irish Tax Review July 2005
• Marks & Spencer: striking a balance, British Tax Review, 2005
• Direct Taxation and the Court of Justice - the Virtues of Consistency, ERA Forum 2/2004
• Out with an exit charge: Hughes de Lasteyrie du Saillant, British Tax Review, 2004
• The Heirs of H. Barbier: Taxing Estates in the EU, British Tax Review, 2004
• Tax in a single market - Bosal and Marks and Spencer plc, British Tax Review, 2003
• Double Taxation of Estates, Inheritances and Gifts in the EU and the Anglo-American Trust, European Taxation, 1997
• Discrimination Against Individuals and Enterprises on Grounds of Nationality: Direct Taxation and the European Court of Justice, British Tax Review, 1994

Seminars

• EU Law applicable to the Private Client: Yorkshire branch of STEP, 16th November 2010
• The Application and Interpretation of Tax Treaties London School of Economics, October 2010
• Imports, Exports, the WTO, Dispute Resolution and International Taxation London School of Economics, October 2010
• Capital Gains Taxation of Offshore Trusts/Companies for UK Domiciliaries, CLT, September 2010
• Customs Unions: A Challenge to Nation States, National Institutions and Judges, Muenster University, September 2010
• Tax Governance in the EU Porto University, May 2010.
• Anti-Avoidance Provisions (for Central Law Training, May 2010)
• Input Tax Deductions (for the LexisNexis VAT EU Update, March 2010)
• The New Savings Directive, ITPA Conference in Geneva, March 2010
• Corporate residence - a webinar given by Timothy Lyons QC, Setu Kemal, and Harriet Brown, March 2010
• The EU and the Taxation of Companies, LexisNexis Conference on International Corporate Tax Planning, February 2010.
• Reflections on judicial involvement in the customs union and exclusive competence, University of Muenster, Germany, November 2009.
• Anti-Dumping Regulations in a Recession: Construction and Validity, International Customs Law Academy, Portugal, June 2009
• Escaping Recession: Company Regulation in the Single Market and its Abuse, Northern Chancery Bar Association, May 2009,
• A Brief Miscellany: Some developments affecting "non-domiciled" individuals, London, May 2009
• The Art of Advocacy Government Affairs Group, Chartered Institute of Public Relations, London, April 2009
• The Fundamental Freedoms and Case Law of the ECJ, International Bureau of Fiscal Documentation, Amsterdam, April 2009
• Opportunities arising from the latest ECJ Cases 6th Annual Corporate International Tax Planning Conference, London, February 2009.

Timothy Lyons is a Visiting Professor in the School of Law at the London School of Economics, the University of Porto and a faculty member of the International Tax Centre, Leiden.

• "...one of the foremost EC customs and tax law litigators." GTCJ [2009] Vol 4, p409

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• Call: 1980
• Silk: 2003