As a transactional tax accountant, I have a strong focus on M&A work covering PE fund investments, business combinations and sales as well as inbound investment, all of which is very buoyant at the moment. Coming out of the pandemic, corporates are looking closely at what is core to their business and what they need to control; we are seeing a lot of corporate tidying and rationalisation resulting in corporate reorganisations.
As the head of tax at Crowe, more so than ever people are our key asset and we are constantly reviewing strategies to recruit, retain and develop good people. A key challenge is in continuing to develop our people in a way that meets the ever-changing needs of our clients and markets. I am acutely aware that career pathways for young tax professionals may be very different to those followed by today’s tax leaders.
Allied to this is the technology transformation across the sector which is rapidly impacting on productivity, efficiencies and the roles of our people. Moving forward, we are building a technology infrastructure that needs to help us predict and serve the dynamic requirements of our clients of the future.
If you could make one change to a tax, what would it be?
One specific area crying out for change is in the employment-related securities legislation. This incredibly complex and technical area creates a lot of theoretical tax risk on transactions. I find the rules on restricted securities particularly irksome and a lot of time can be spent discussing the risk of a charge if s 431 elections have not been made or cannot be found. I would prefer the rules to apply far more narrowly than they currently do and perhaps allow for shareholders to elect out of a charge on acquisition rather than the other way round as currently.
What do you know now that you wish you’d known at the start of your career?
Having travelled a slightly circuitous route through my tax career, grasping varied and interesting opportunities along the way, I often questioned myself for not progressing to a senior role faster, and for not focusing on the job title or traditional career progression. With hindsight, though, I now feel very confident that my diverse experiences have all been opportunities to learn new areas of tax and added to my skills as an adviser.
Are there any new rules that are causing a particular problem?
The close company disguised remuneration rules at ITEPA 2003 s 554A and the targeted anti-avoidance provisions at ITTOIA 2005 s 396B have both caused problems for my clients recently. The first rules are particularly complicated to navigate, and both sets of rules can potentially catch transactions they really shouldn’t. It would be great if there was an advance clearance for these.
Which recent tax case caught your eye?
Allan [2021] UKUT 291 (TCC) where the Upper Tribunal held that the transaction in securities provisions did not apply – and in particular, the finding that the existence of an alternative transaction which has a different tax result does not necessarily mean that a transaction with a lesser tax result is undertaken for a main purpose of tax avoidance. It’s now common practice for us to include in a tax clearance application information to preempt questions from the tax clearance team about why an alternative structure was not used. It’ll be helpful to be able to refer to this decision in future too.
What should we look out for later this year?
I believe we will start to see clients more focused on making tax digital (in its widest sense). MTD for VAT has been little more than sticking plaster and, with time ticking on for MTD for income tax and beyond, we still need more clarification and visibility on how MTD will work and can be managed.
You might not know this about me but...
I read 80 detective novels during the lockdowns, mostly as good source of relaxation. I have had a joy of thrillers ever since my first Dorothy L Sayers, and I harbour an ambition to write a detective novel myself, maybe as a retirement project one day.
As a transactional tax accountant, I have a strong focus on M&A work covering PE fund investments, business combinations and sales as well as inbound investment, all of which is very buoyant at the moment. Coming out of the pandemic, corporates are looking closely at what is core to their business and what they need to control; we are seeing a lot of corporate tidying and rationalisation resulting in corporate reorganisations.
As the head of tax at Crowe, more so than ever people are our key asset and we are constantly reviewing strategies to recruit, retain and develop good people. A key challenge is in continuing to develop our people in a way that meets the ever-changing needs of our clients and markets. I am acutely aware that career pathways for young tax professionals may be very different to those followed by today’s tax leaders.
Allied to this is the technology transformation across the sector which is rapidly impacting on productivity, efficiencies and the roles of our people. Moving forward, we are building a technology infrastructure that needs to help us predict and serve the dynamic requirements of our clients of the future.
If you could make one change to a tax, what would it be?
One specific area crying out for change is in the employment-related securities legislation. This incredibly complex and technical area creates a lot of theoretical tax risk on transactions. I find the rules on restricted securities particularly irksome and a lot of time can be spent discussing the risk of a charge if s 431 elections have not been made or cannot be found. I would prefer the rules to apply far more narrowly than they currently do and perhaps allow for shareholders to elect out of a charge on acquisition rather than the other way round as currently.
What do you know now that you wish you’d known at the start of your career?
Having travelled a slightly circuitous route through my tax career, grasping varied and interesting opportunities along the way, I often questioned myself for not progressing to a senior role faster, and for not focusing on the job title or traditional career progression. With hindsight, though, I now feel very confident that my diverse experiences have all been opportunities to learn new areas of tax and added to my skills as an adviser.
Are there any new rules that are causing a particular problem?
The close company disguised remuneration rules at ITEPA 2003 s 554A and the targeted anti-avoidance provisions at ITTOIA 2005 s 396B have both caused problems for my clients recently. The first rules are particularly complicated to navigate, and both sets of rules can potentially catch transactions they really shouldn’t. It would be great if there was an advance clearance for these.
Which recent tax case caught your eye?
Allan [2021] UKUT 291 (TCC) where the Upper Tribunal held that the transaction in securities provisions did not apply – and in particular, the finding that the existence of an alternative transaction which has a different tax result does not necessarily mean that a transaction with a lesser tax result is undertaken for a main purpose of tax avoidance. It’s now common practice for us to include in a tax clearance application information to preempt questions from the tax clearance team about why an alternative structure was not used. It’ll be helpful to be able to refer to this decision in future too.
What should we look out for later this year?
I believe we will start to see clients more focused on making tax digital (in its widest sense). MTD for VAT has been little more than sticking plaster and, with time ticking on for MTD for income tax and beyond, we still need more clarification and visibility on how MTD will work and can be managed.
You might not know this about me but...
I read 80 detective novels during the lockdowns, mostly as good source of relaxation. I have had a joy of thrillers ever since my first Dorothy L Sayers, and I harbour an ambition to write a detective novel myself, maybe as a retirement project one day.
.tmb-editorspic.jpg?sfvrsn=df04ab27_1)
