One minute with Martin Muhleder is Tax Partner at global mobility solutions specialist Vialto Partners.
What’s keeping you busy at work?
We’re preparing for our first tax season under the new Foreign Income and Gains (FIG) regime. The new rules require reporting of worldwide income and gains, creating a significant increase in compliance obligations when you’re preparing more than 20,000 tax returns.
What do you know now that you wish you’d known at the start of your career?
Three things. First, the importance of building relationships. Second, how willing senior leaders are to mentor you if you ask. Third, that you don’t need to excel at everything. Understanding your strengths and where you add most value is often more important.
If you could make one change to tax, what would it be?
I would revisit the reporting requirements under the FIG regime. While the policy objective is clear, the level of information now required can be disproportionate to the compliance risk in many cases. Tax authorities should focus on collecting data that is genuinely necessary to assess liabilities, rather than creating additional reporting burdens with limited compliance benefit.
What’s topical in your world?
Technology and data continue to dominate the conversation. Clients increasingly expect seamless, technology-enabled solutions that simplify complex compliance obligations. The organisations that can combine strong technical expertise with effective use of data and technology are likely to have a significant advantage.
Any new trends you’re seeing in tax?
One of the biggest challenges we’re seeing is HMRC taking a more assertive approach in areas where there has historically been greater certainty. For example, questions have been raised around the tax treatment of immigration costs and overseas employer social security contributions. In some cases, long-standing interpretations are being revisited without extensive guidance, making compliance more difficult. Many clients are understandably reluctant to challenge HMRC’s position, which can create further uncertainty.
What’s the future of global mobility?
We are going to see two distinct and contradictory forces driving global mobility. On one hand, organisations are becoming ever more global, and traditional notions of where someone works, reports and creates value are becoming increasingly blurred. On the other hand, this trend is colliding with legislation, tax treaties and regulatory frameworks that were often written before the internet, let alone modern working practices such as remote and hybrid work. At the same time, many countries are applying compliance requirements more rigorously with much greater use of technology by authorities to track people’s travel (for example, the French authorities looking at footballer Samir Nasri’s Deliveroo orders to track his residence!).
Our role as advisers is to help our clients navigate their employees through this in the most efficient way.
And finally, you might not know this about me but...
Earlier this year, I completed my first HYROX competition with my colleague Natalie Thompson in 1 hour 23 minutes. Unfortunately, the event proved to be the final straw for a long-standing hip problem, and I underwent a hip replacement last week. I’m now recuperating and may need to find a hobby that’s a little kinder to my body.
One minute with Martin Muhleder is Tax Partner at global mobility solutions specialist Vialto Partners.
What’s keeping you busy at work?
We’re preparing for our first tax season under the new Foreign Income and Gains (FIG) regime. The new rules require reporting of worldwide income and gains, creating a significant increase in compliance obligations when you’re preparing more than 20,000 tax returns.
What do you know now that you wish you’d known at the start of your career?
Three things. First, the importance of building relationships. Second, how willing senior leaders are to mentor you if you ask. Third, that you don’t need to excel at everything. Understanding your strengths and where you add most value is often more important.
If you could make one change to tax, what would it be?
I would revisit the reporting requirements under the FIG regime. While the policy objective is clear, the level of information now required can be disproportionate to the compliance risk in many cases. Tax authorities should focus on collecting data that is genuinely necessary to assess liabilities, rather than creating additional reporting burdens with limited compliance benefit.
What’s topical in your world?
Technology and data continue to dominate the conversation. Clients increasingly expect seamless, technology-enabled solutions that simplify complex compliance obligations. The organisations that can combine strong technical expertise with effective use of data and technology are likely to have a significant advantage.
Any new trends you’re seeing in tax?
One of the biggest challenges we’re seeing is HMRC taking a more assertive approach in areas where there has historically been greater certainty. For example, questions have been raised around the tax treatment of immigration costs and overseas employer social security contributions. In some cases, long-standing interpretations are being revisited without extensive guidance, making compliance more difficult. Many clients are understandably reluctant to challenge HMRC’s position, which can create further uncertainty.
What’s the future of global mobility?
We are going to see two distinct and contradictory forces driving global mobility. On one hand, organisations are becoming ever more global, and traditional notions of where someone works, reports and creates value are becoming increasingly blurred. On the other hand, this trend is colliding with legislation, tax treaties and regulatory frameworks that were often written before the internet, let alone modern working practices such as remote and hybrid work. At the same time, many countries are applying compliance requirements more rigorously with much greater use of technology by authorities to track people’s travel (for example, the French authorities looking at footballer Samir Nasri’s Deliveroo orders to track his residence!).
Our role as advisers is to help our clients navigate their employees through this in the most efficient way.
And finally, you might not know this about me but...
Earlier this year, I completed my first HYROX competition with my colleague Natalie Thompson in 1 hour 23 minutes. Unfortunately, the event proved to be the final straw for a long-standing hip problem, and I underwent a hip replacement last week. I’m now recuperating and may need to find a hobby that’s a little kinder to my body.
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