One minute with ... John Cassidy

Who in tax do you most admire?

Robert Maas because over many years he has not been afraid to stand up and say it like it is even if that means upsetting senior civil servants. He has an uncanny ability to decipher analyse and remember everything – whether it is an obscure reference in a consultation documents or a piece of complex legislation! Robert also devotes a huge amount of time to extra curricular activities to help the tax profession as a whole.

Is there a development in tax that especially concerns you?

HMRC powers have changed – and increased – a lot in recent years. What concerns me is the extraordinary gulf between what the top brass say about when and how those powers should be used and what some HMRC officers at the coalface think they can now demand because of the changes.

What’s...