Judith Freedman
Professor of Taxation Law*
Judith Freedman is Professor of Taxation Law and a Fellow of Worcester College. She worked in the corporate tax department of Freshfields before joining the University of Surrey as a lecturer in law in 1980. She then moved to the London School of Economics (LSE) with a secondment to the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies as Senior Research Fellow in Company and Commercial Law from 1989-92. Whilst at the LSE, she lectured and researched on tax and company law. At Oxford, her focus is taxation, particularly corporate and business taxation, but she has a continuing interest in related areas of corporate law, corporate governance, corporate social responsibility, the interaction between law and accounting and small businesses. She participated in the establishment of the Oxford University Centre for Business Taxation and is now its Director of Legal Research and a member of its Steering Committee and Advisory Board She has served on a number of Law Society, DTI and Inland Revenue Committees and advisory groups and was a member of the Company Law Review's working party on small companies. She is currently a member of the Office of Tax Simplification Consultative Committee on Small Business Taxation and the Tax Avoidance Study Group appointed to report to the Exchequer Secretary on the question of a General Anti-avoidance Rule. She has held the Anton Philips Visiting Chair at the University of Tilburg and is an Adjunct Professor in the Australian School of Taxation and Business Law, University of New South Wales. She is the general editor of the British Tax Review and is on the editorial boards of the Modern Law Review, the eJournal of Tax Research, The Canadian Tax Journal, The Australian Tax Review and The Tax Journal. She is a member of the Council of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, a member of the Tax Law Review Committee, and was one of the few lawyers contributing to the Mirrlees report 'Reforming the Tax System for the 21st Century. Further information about tax at Oxford can be found on the tax pages of the Faculty of Law website.
Publications
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2011
J Freedman, 'Responsive Regulation, Risk and Rules: Applying the Theory to Tax Practice' (2011) 44 UBC Law Review
J Freedman, 'The Anatomy of Tax Avoidance Counteraction: Abuse of Law in a Tax Context at Member State and European Union Level' in Rita de la Feria and Stefan Vogenauer (eds), Prohibition of Abuse of Law - A New General Principle of EU Law? (Oxford University Centre for Business Taxation/Hart Publishing 2011)
2010
J Freedman, 'Improving (Not Perfecting) Tax Legislation: Rules and Principles Revisited' [2010] British Tax Review [...]
This article revisits the arguments made by John Avery Jones in 1996 for “less detailed legislation interpreted in accordance with principles.” His plea has been influential but perhaps not completely understood. Recent developments in the UK, particularly in the area of so-called “principles-based drafting” may not have assisted in promoting this cause. It is frequently argued that real improvements in tax law require a coherent underlying policy, not just drafting changes. Obviously, drafting techniques will not cure a poorly structured tax and so ideally the starting point would be improved policy. But we cannot afford to wait for a total policy overhaul. A different approach to the way we legislate could both improve the way we think about policy and result in better implementation, application and legitimacy in decision making. Principles-based drafting is not a solution to all ills. Nevertheless, it could offer one route, in appropriate cases, to improvement as well as, in other cases, highlighting the need for more fundamental reform. We should not give up this experiment simply because it has not yet delivered total success. No new drafting technique can deliver a perfect tax system, but it is worth persevering with principles-based legislation.
J Freedman and C.Crawford, 'Small Business Taxation' in J Mirrlees, S Adam, T Besley, R Blundell, S Bond, R Chote, M Gammie, P Johnson, G Myles, J Poterba (eds), Dimensions of Tax Design: The Mirrlees Review ( Oxford University Press for Institute for Fiscal Studies 2010)
2009
J Freedman, G Loomer and J Vella, 'Corporate Tax Risk and Tax Avoidance: New Approaches' [2009] British Tax Review 74 [...]
The relationship between tax authorities and large corporate taxpayers is a concern world-wide as can be seen from the 2008 OECD Study into the Role of Tax Intermediaries. In the United Kingdom, HMRC have been developing a risk rating approach to tax risk management as part of their Review of Links with Large Business. The approach is designed to promote an enhanced relationship between HMRC and the taxpayer, based on trust and transparency. The objectives include the improvement of resource allocation and the encouragement of companies to consider their position so as to achieve the benefits of low risk rating, which may involve altering their tax planning strategy. In addition, new approaches to tax avoidance legislation such as targeted anti-avoidance rules and principles-based legislation are being introduced or considered. This article discusses a survey of tax directors in which the authors used detailed tax planning scenarios to investigate the views of tax directors on the impact and success or otherwise of these new approaches. The views of tax directors are only one factor in judging the success of these developments, but given that one aim of current tax policy is an enhanced relationship with corporate taxpayers, directors’ views are significant in assessing the progress being made.
2008
J Freedman, 'Financial and Tax Accounting: Transparency and Truth' in Schon (ed), Tax and Corporate Governance (Springer Science 2008)
J Freedman and G.Macdonald, 'The Tax Base for CCCTB: The Role of Principles' in Lang/Pistone/Schuch/Staringer (ed), Common Consolidated Corporate Tax Base (CCCTB) (Linde 2008)
News
Professor Judith Freedman is recognised in the New Years Honours List
The Oxford Law Faculty congratulates Judith Freedman who has been awarded a CBE for services to tax research [more…]
Interests
Teaching: Taxation; Law and Finance
Research: Corporate and business taxation, taxation policy, small businesses, law and accounting, corporate social responsibility
