Top City tax barrister charged with tax evasion

A top City tax barrister has been charged with tax evasion, it has been revealed.

Robert Venables KC, a tax barrister at Old Square Tax Chambers, has been charged with two counts of cheating the public revenue for evading tax in his personal returns over a period of nine years.

One charge relates to the period 2013 to 2022, while the other concerns the years 2018 to 2022.

HMRC said he appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on 18 December last year.

Old Square Tax Chambers did not respond to a request for comment from City AM, but Venables told Tax Policy Associates, which first reported the news, that he denied the charges.

In a statement to the site, it said: “The charges are denied. They relate entirely to the personal tax position of Mr Venables and do not relate to the tax position of any client of his past or present.

“Mr Venables is confident that he has paid all tax lawfully due.”

Venables was called to the Bar to practise as a barrister in 1973, and was appointed as a Queen’s Counsel (now King’s Counsel) in 1990.