With Article 50 now set to be triggered before the end of March 2017, it is timely to reflect upon the extent of what shall be up for grabs in the negotiation. In an article entitled ‘The Taxing Consequences of Brexit’ to be published in a special Brexit edition of the King’s Law Journal, I set out the impact that EU Tax Law has had upon the UK and speak tentatively about the prospect that post-Brexit, the UK shall be subject to both hard-law and soft-law over which the UK will have no formal say. The abstract for the piece reads as follows:

“The European Union is a complex and confusing instrument even for those well-versed in its institutions, procedures and acquis. EU Laws in respect of taxation to this end are unsurprisingly complicated. The impact of the UK’s decision to leave the EU in turn arouses an enormity of questions in respect of the post-Brexit settlement. One can speculate about what this might look like and what EU Laws in respect of taxation the UK will continue to subscribe to. However, this would be mere speculation as the eventual settlement will be the result of a negotiation between the UK and the EU, and in a negotiation, everything is potentially up for grabs. This article will seek to highlight the extent to which non-EU members can be subject to EU rules. As a prerequisite to this analysis however, it is first necessary to elaborate upon the UK’s current relationship with the EU in respect of taxation.”

An early draft of the article is also available from my SSRN page.