Karl Pocock is a Partner and Head of Corporate Tax at Birketts LLP. He specialises in business taxation, including the taxation of property transactions, and has developed the latter with a particular focus on SDLT and VAT. Email: karl-pocock@birketts.co.uk.
One minute with Karl Pocock, Head of Corporate Tax at Birketts.
What’s keeping you busy at work?
I’m working on a steady stream of M&A transactions and high-value SDLT queries involving mixed-use properties, dereliction and partnerships, in collaboration with our residential and agricultural teams. I’m also helping to support public authorities with financing structures for the acquisition of affordable housing.
What do you know now that you wish you’d known at the start of your career?
Don’t be afraid to ask questions. Having a basic understanding of another area of law, or a greater understanding of your client’s business and goals, will only help you provide practical tax advice. Being genuinely interested can also help build better relationships with colleagues and clients alike. However knowledgeable you are, it’s the interaction with others that makes the job and helps you progress.
If you could make one change to tax, what would it be?
I would like to see the end of HMRC repaying SDLT following the amendment of a return without considering the merits of the claim. The policy encourages less scrupulous operators in the SDLT reclaim industry to push the boundaries, declare success, and then disappear – leaving the taxpayer to repay the SDLT (with interest) after having already paid fees to the adviser. It also means that taxpayers with legitimate claims can’t be fully confident that HMRC will not raise any enquiries, with the uncertainty, in turn, minimising the benefit of receiving a quick repayment.
What’s topical in your world?
It may not be an actual change in law, but the increase in the number of tribunal cases relating to what is mixed-use or derelict for SDLT purposes brings with them subtle changes in approach that need to be considered. In many cases, the actual decision is not surprising – what is surprising is that someone thought it was worth appealing to the tribunal in the first place – but the number of cases does mean that advising on these matters, unless particularly straightforward, is becoming far more complicated and uncertain. Claims that would have been considered relatively strong a few years ago are still likely to succeed, but the layers of elements to take into account do increase the uncertainty.
Has a recent change in HMRC practice impacted your work?
It possibly dates me, but I fondly remember the ability to speak with someone at HMRC who would willingly offer helpful assistance. Times change and the increased focus on countering anti-avoidance has clearly seen a reallocation of resources. However, being able to run an issue by a knowledgeable officer was very useful and often avoided the need to write to HMRC to seek a view. With written responses now, in our team’s experience, less helpful than they used to be, I miss the more collaborative approach of yesteryear.
Finally, you might not know this about me but…
Thanks to an enthusiastic schoolteacher, I performed at both the Royal Festival Hall and the Royal Albert Hall, and played the Glockenspiel live on BBC Look East. I then discovered that I have minimal musical and dramatic ability and retired from stage and screen at the age of seven!
Karl Pocock is a Partner and Head of Corporate Tax at Birketts LLP. He specialises in business taxation, including the taxation of property transactions, and has developed the latter with a particular focus on SDLT and VAT. Email: karl-pocock@birketts.co.uk.
One minute with Karl Pocock, Head of Corporate Tax at Birketts.
What’s keeping you busy at work?
I’m working on a steady stream of M&A transactions and high-value SDLT queries involving mixed-use properties, dereliction and partnerships, in collaboration with our residential and agricultural teams. I’m also helping to support public authorities with financing structures for the acquisition of affordable housing.
What do you know now that you wish you’d known at the start of your career?
Don’t be afraid to ask questions. Having a basic understanding of another area of law, or a greater understanding of your client’s business and goals, will only help you provide practical tax advice. Being genuinely interested can also help build better relationships with colleagues and clients alike. However knowledgeable you are, it’s the interaction with others that makes the job and helps you progress.
If you could make one change to tax, what would it be?
I would like to see the end of HMRC repaying SDLT following the amendment of a return without considering the merits of the claim. The policy encourages less scrupulous operators in the SDLT reclaim industry to push the boundaries, declare success, and then disappear – leaving the taxpayer to repay the SDLT (with interest) after having already paid fees to the adviser. It also means that taxpayers with legitimate claims can’t be fully confident that HMRC will not raise any enquiries, with the uncertainty, in turn, minimising the benefit of receiving a quick repayment.
What’s topical in your world?
It may not be an actual change in law, but the increase in the number of tribunal cases relating to what is mixed-use or derelict for SDLT purposes brings with them subtle changes in approach that need to be considered. In many cases, the actual decision is not surprising – what is surprising is that someone thought it was worth appealing to the tribunal in the first place – but the number of cases does mean that advising on these matters, unless particularly straightforward, is becoming far more complicated and uncertain. Claims that would have been considered relatively strong a few years ago are still likely to succeed, but the layers of elements to take into account do increase the uncertainty.
Has a recent change in HMRC practice impacted your work?
It possibly dates me, but I fondly remember the ability to speak with someone at HMRC who would willingly offer helpful assistance. Times change and the increased focus on countering anti-avoidance has clearly seen a reallocation of resources. However, being able to run an issue by a knowledgeable officer was very useful and often avoided the need to write to HMRC to seek a view. With written responses now, in our team’s experience, less helpful than they used to be, I miss the more collaborative approach of yesteryear.
Finally, you might not know this about me but…
Thanks to an enthusiastic schoolteacher, I performed at both the Royal Festival Hall and the Royal Albert Hall, and played the Glockenspiel live on BBC Look East. I then discovered that I have minimal musical and dramatic ability and retired from stage and screen at the age of seven!
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