What do you do?

I help businesses and their owners to understand how tax affects their commercial decisions, structure their affairs in a tax efficient way and plan for the future. I work with entrepreneurial businesses, OMBs and larger corporates to provide tax advice that helps them to deal with current issues and to make longer term plans. I help clients to navigate complex tax rules, support them with growth, change and transactions and ensure that their businesses are set up in a way that is tax efficient and aligned with their goals. I also work closely with the owners of businesses and their families to help them plan how to extract value and prepare for the future.

Why do you do it?

I realised that I enjoyed tax when I was studying for my chartered accountancy qualification. After getting a good grounding in audit (4 years was more than enough!) I moved into tax shortly after qualifying. I love the challenges of finding solutions to commercial and personal issues for clients and the peace of mind that comes from that. Every day is different and I enjoy getting to know clients and their businesses and finding the right way of working for each individual case. As well as the obvious technical side of my role, relationships are also key – whether it is a relationship that I have built up over many years or a new client that I am getting to know – it always keeps my role interesting and varied.

What kind of projects have you been involved in?

My focus is mainly business tax but over the years I have worked in most areas of tax – even dabbling in VAT on occasion. In my current role I get involved in lots of interesting projects, recent examples include Family Investment Company planning, growth share structures, demergers, group reorganisations, management buy-outs and group tax planning.

What’s top of your bucket list?

Visiting the Orangutans in Borneo.