James Quarmby
Partner
James Quarmby is a leading UK private client lawyer, renowned for his expertise in taxation, asset protection, and succession planning.
Partner
James Quarmby is a leading UK private client lawyer, renowned for his expertise in taxation, asset protection, and succession planning.
Language - English
Jurisdiction - England & Wales
James Quarmby is a leading UK private client lawyer, renowned for his expertise in taxation, asset protection, and succession planning. He has a wide-ranging practice, advising on UK and international taxation, residency and domicile, offshore pensions and trusts, asset protection, succession planning, and HMRC disputes.
James frequently appears in the press and broadcast media, featuring across outlets such as Newsnight, BBC Breakfast, BBC News, BBC World Service TV, Sky News, Bloomberg TV, BBC Radio 2, BBC Radio 4 (including the Today programme), BBC Radio 5 Live, BBC World Service, LBC, Times Radio, and numerous print media quotes. He writes and lectures widely on tax policy.
Recognised across the private wealth sector for his expertise, James has been included in eprivateclient's "50 Most Influential" list for nine years running. He also features in the Private Client Global Elite and Spear's Tax & Trusts Indices. Ranked as a Leading Individual in the Legal 500, he is acknowledged by the Chambers HNW guide in both the Private Wealth Law and Family Offices & Funds Structuring categories. James was named Tax & Trusts Lawyer of the Year at the 2022 Spear's Wealth Management Awards.
In addition to being a solicitor regulated by the SRA, James is a Registered Tax Technician, regulated by the Association of Tax Technicians (ATT). He is an active member of STEP and a contributing editor for LexisNexis.
UK property
Advised clients on the most tax efficient means of acquiring and holding UK property, both for personal occupation and investment, taking into account CGT, IHT, ATED, SDLT and VAT.Residency planning
Recently advised a prominent Italian family on their relocation to the UK, looking at their personal assets and those in various offshore trusts.Tax Investigations
Represented a client in an HMRC investigation generated by their receipt of his leaked foreign bank account details, settling the case for less than one-tenth of the amount of tax originally claimed.Philanthropy
Advised a prominent Hong Kong billionaire on his proposed bequest to an US charity and created two charitable trusts and the UK and Hong Kong.International succession planning
Recently advised a UK national resident in Belgium on estate planning for his worldwide estate, including considering the interaction between UK and Belgian death taxes.Transfer of ownership of a London-based contemporary art gallery
Acted for the gallery in the acquisition by an existing shareholder and advised on all aspects of the transaction, including corporate and tax-related issues.Private client acquiring a property to house art collection
Advised on the acquisition of a property in London to house an art collection, including all of the tax and surrounding legal issues such as drafting the license for the offshore company that owns the art.Private client art display in home owned by an offshore trust
Advised on their art collection, owned by an offshore company but displayed in their London property. This involved complex 'benefit in kind' issues with regards to the art on display, which was owned by a separate offshore company under license.Private client’s inheritance
Advised a party to a beneficiary dispute over inherited art, owned by an offshore trust.
