Biography:

David is a former partner in, and consultant to Larking Gowen, based in East Anglia, specialising in agriculture and associated private client work. He is a founder member and past chairman of the ICAEW Farming and Rural Business Community and the group’s subject matter expert. Since retiring from practice David continues his involvement with agriculture, both as a speaker at training conferences and as a farmer in his own right.

Biography:

Peter Rayney practises as an independent tax consultant, advising owner-managed companies, accountants, lawyers and tax practitioners on a wide range of tax issues. He was previously with BDO for nearly 20 years and during the last five years he was BDO’s National Tax Technical Partner.

Peter specialises in corporate tax and corporate finance tax including company sales and acquisitions (including MBOs), reconstructions and all aspects of owner managed business taxation. He is a tax lecturer and regularly contributes tax articles to the professional press.

Peter is an author and contributor to a number of books, including Tolley's Tax Planning, Rayney's Corporate Tax and Tax Planning for Family and Owner Managed Companies. He was awarded the Chartered Institute of Taxation’s Fellowship Thesis prize in 1994. He has won the prestigious Taxation ‘Tax Writer of the Year’ award an unprecedented three times.

Peter chairs the ICAEW Tax Faculty Technical Committee and is a former President of the Chartered Institute of Taxation.

Biography:

Jenny Tragner is a Director and Head of Policy at ForrestBrown, leading the technical approach for the firm on all aspects of R&D tax relief.

She is an experienced chartered accountant and ATT fellow with a wealth of expertise in all aspects of R&D tax. She specialises in supporting businesses with complex cases involving R&D reliefs, including dispute resolution and tax advisory projects.

She began her career at KPMG in 2002 and has specialised in R&D tax for the past 15 years. In this time, she has advised many of the UK’s most innovative companies.

Jenny is an expert in R&D tax policy and has contributed to numerous consultations on R&D tax relief over the course of her career.

She co-authored the Tolley’s Tax Digest on R&D tax relief and is a regular contributor to publications including Taxation and Bloomberg Tax. In November 2022, Jenny was invited to give evidence to the House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee inquiry into the incentive. She also contributes to TolleyGuidance Corporate module.

Biography:

Helen Cuthbert is a Senior Tax Manager in the Private Client Team.

Helen specialises in International Private Client Tax matters. Helen assists international individuals moving to the UK; advising on residence, the remittance basis of taxation and remittance planning. In addition, Helen advises UK resident and domiciled individuals leaving to spend time outside the UK.

Helen joined James Cowper Kreston in 2013 and advises a varied portfolio of International and UK based clients. Helen gained extensive experience in Big 4 and Top 10 firms, together with a number of years spent as a tax tutor preparing candidates for the Institute professional exams. Helen is experienced in a wide range of taxation issues including; income tax, capital gains tax, inheritance tax, enveloped property and pre-arrival remittance planning. Helen has a particular interest in the UK taxation of offshore trusts including inheritance tax issues, capital gains tax deferral and the transfer of assets abroad.

Biography:

I have worked in audit and assurance since 2009 and received my certification in 2014. I work mostly in audit and assurance but my responsibilities also include a lot of work with VAT, corporate tax, both international and domestic.

Biography:

David Heaton FCA CTA has specialised in employment taxes, national insurance (social security taxes) and tax investigations since the late 1980s. After senior positions in Big 4 firms and partnership for 13 years in a national firm, he became a sole practitioner in 2014.

His main focuses are:

• PAYE
• employment status and temporary/agency workers
• employee share incentives
• share valuation for tax purposes
• expatriate/migrant workers
• tax investigations

He was the original author and for many years the editor of CCH's British NIC Guide, but he is now the editor of Tolley's National Insurance and a contributor to Taxwise, Tolley's Tax Planning, Simon's Taxes and Taxline Tax Planning on employment taxes and NIC matters.

As a lecturer for professional institutes and training businesses he is known for his down-to-earth and often irreverent style. He was briefly a member of HMRC's GAAR panel, invited because of his nationally recognised expertise in employment taxes, but he resigned after a press expose that revealed that he advised clients and fellow professionals as well as HMRC.

He has chaired the ICAEW's Employment Taxes & NIC Committee for many years and is a past chairman of the Institute's Tax Faculty. He is also a member of two relevant technical sub-committees of the CIOT.

Biography:

Gavin Little is Head of Tax Services at Interpath Advisory (an independent advisory practice created from KPMG UK's disposal of its Restructuring practice). Prior to joining Interpath Advisory Gavin spent 17 years at KPMG leading its Restructuring Tax team from 2014 to 2021. Since 2006, Gavin has provided tax services in the restructuring market specialising in insolvent and solvent restructurings, ranging from small family owned companies with external debt of c. £10 million to large multinational groups with external debt in excess of £1 billion. As a result of his practical experience Gavin is a market leading specialist in insolvency related tax matters, loan relationships and distressed M&A.

Biography:

Abdulrahman Azzouni is a legal professional with an LL.B from the University of Sharjah and an LL.M from Pennsylvania State University, where he specialized in Tax and Corporate Law. Abdulrahman have gained extensive experience as a corporate lawyer in Saudi Arabia, handling a broad range of corporate law cases and providing compliance support to companies. Abdulrahman’s interests includes mergers and acquisitions, tax law, and managing complex legal matters.

Biography:

Angela is an Associate Director at ForrestBrown and leads on the delivery of Patent Box relief claims for clients. She has more than a decade of experience with Big Four accounting and specialist R&D firms and is passionate about the benefits of Patent Box. Based in ForrestBrown’s Scotland office, Angela provides dedicated local support to ensure that Scottish businesses are maximising their reward for investment in innovation, as well as working with businesses across the UK.

Biography:

I am an accountant with expertise in various domains such as bookkeeping, tax compliance, and VAT. I have a strong background in financial accounting and reporting, as well as in auditing and assurance.

I am proficient in using various accounting software and tools to manage and analyze data. I am also familiar with the latest accounting standards and regulations, and I can help clients with their tax planning and filing needs.

I am a contributing author to the Bulgaria country guide in Tolley’s EU/Global VAT.

Biography:

Mala is a Chartered Tax Adviser and non-practising Solicitor and Accountant. She trained with a top ten professional services firm where she worked in the tax investigations department and gained experience in a wide range of personal and corporate taxes. She joined the tax investigations team at a boutique tax consultancy and developed her portfolio before moving to a tax investigations firm.

Mala specialises in preparation of disclosures to HMRC and resolution of tax enquiries and CoP8 and 9 Investigations. She has experience in a range of situations – self-employment, property, owner managed businesses, non-UK domiciled individuals – and taxes; direct income taxes as well as PAYE, VAT and SDLT.

She is a well-known tax author, having had several articles published by the professional press including Taxation Magazine, Bloomsbury Professional and Tax Adviser. She also regularly lectures online and in person for the CIOT, AAT, ICAEW and CIMA, including at CIOT and CIMA conferences.

Mala was a finalist in the “Best Rising Star in Tax” category as part of Tolleys Taxation Awards 2020. The Awards are known for identifying excellence in tax. Being shortlisted for the award demonstrates Mala’s commitment to the tax profession as well as her technical excellence as supported by testimonials from clients and other tax experts.

Mala founded the London Tax Society in 2017 and actively encourages networking and technical development for young professionals.

To contact Mala, please email: mala@londontaxnetwork.co.uk or call 0203 953 6660.

Biography:

Caroline leads the Employment Tax Team in London and has over 25 years’ experience specialising in all aspects of employment taxes. Her clients range from entrepreneurial fast growing businesses to international household names as well as charities and not for profit organisations.

Her focus is across all aspects of employment taxes in particular the off-payroll working rules (IR35), employment status for tax, termination/settlement payments, employment tax implications of agile working arrangements, management team advice on transactions, employee benefit reviews, PAYE/NIC compliance and reporting etc.

Biography:

Robert Eggens is an experienced VAT specialist with over 10 years of expertise, primarily focused on VAT and customs matters related to international trade and supply chains. He has worked extensively with multinational companies, providing strategic advice on VAT compliance and optimization. Robert is also actively involved in cross-border VAT projects and has contributed to numerous international VAT initiatives and contributes to Tolley's Global and EU VAT.

Biography:

Keith M Gordon MA(Oxon) FCA CTA(Fellow) is a barrister practising from Temple Tax Chambers in London. He previously practised as a chartered accountant and chartered tax adviser. His practice covers all areas of tax and also related areas including partnership disputes and professional negligence. Keith also lectures and writes extensively won the Tax Writer of the Year category in the 2013 LexisNexis Taxation Awards. He was also the Chartered Tax Adviser of the Year in the 2009 awards.

Keith's cases include Jones v Garnett (the 'Arctic Systems' case) where he was the junior barrister for the successful taxpayer in the Court of Appeal and the House of Lords.  More recently, he was instructed by the taxpayers in HMRC v Charlton (discovery), Cotter v HMRC (meaning of tax return), Thomson v HMRC (meaning of trade) and the residence cases of Grace and Tuczka.

Keith is an active member of the Chartered Institute of Taxation. He has been a Council member since 2009, sits on a number of technical sub-committees and until June 2008 was co-chairman of the London Branch.  He is a member of the Taxation and LexisPSL editorial boards.

Biography:

Tom Shaw is an Associate Director at Deloitte. He leads Deloitte’s response to Environmental Tax budget measures, and acts as a tax lead in Deloitte‘s Road to Net Zero/Climate group. He has over ten years' experience advising businesses in every sector on the effect of environmental taxes, in addition to VAT/GST systems, customs duties and other taxes, on their operations.

Tom specialises in global trends concerning carbon pricing instruments, associated taxation policy change and business transformation. He is a Chartered Tax Adviser and holds a first class degree in Mathematics.

Biography:

Richard Dew's practice is a barrister, whose practice is focused on Wills, Estates and Trusts and related professional negligence. His practice is predominantly litigation, and he is frequently involved in large and complex claims. He also advises and represents in Court of Protection matters and provides expert advice in respect of tax and tax planning (principally capital taxation). Chambers UK 2014 describe him as having "superb powers of analysis," and that he "instantly impresses with his intellect. He is excellent with clients and is just as capable on his feet as when handling the paperwork." Previous editions say he is  a "'superb junior,' who combines strong academic credentials … with a flair for litigation and ADR". He is a member of STEP and ACTAPS. He is an author of Parker's Will Precedents and of Tolley's IHT Planning as well as a contributor to numerous books and articles.

Biography:

Moore and Smalley's East Midlands office is headed up by Nick Stevenson who looks after a wide variety of clients. He has a strong background in medical service clients, including looking after over 100 individual GP's and over 25 practices, over 40 hospital consultants and GP locums, and a total client list of over 300. Nick is currently the head of the MHA healthcare sector group, an association of nine independent accountancy firms across the UK, and the ICAEW SIG committee. He has particular responsibility for liaising with NHS Employers, local LMC's and the Health & Social Care Information Centre. Nick is also involved in the Primary Care Development Centre for Nottingham and Derbyshire where he provides support and training to local primary care providers. He regularly presents at events on an array of topics including maximising practice profitability, strategic planning and tax considerations.

Biography:

Lilian Leong is a Senior Manager in William Buck New South Wales’ Tax team. With almost a decade of experience, Lilian specialises in both Corporate and International Tax and works closely with high net wealth individuals and multinational companies. As well as obtaining a Bachelor of Law and a Bachelor of Applied Finance, Lilian has a Graduate Diploma of Legal Practice and has been admitted as a lawyer in NSW.