Biography:

Head of the Tax at PKF Francis Clark with particular responsibility for family businesses and professional partnerships, property and international tax services.

Considerable expertise in business structuring advice and long term planning with a particular focus on capital gains tax (entrepreneurs' relief, Enterprise Investment Scheme and investor's relief) and inheritance tax business property relief and agricultural property relief.

Biography:

Claire started tutoring students whilst at University studying for a Maths degree.

She joined Deloitte in 2003 where she worked in the Expatriate Tax team dealing with secondments to and from the UK. Whilst working at Deloitte, Claire studied both ATT and CTA and also continued to tutor GCSE/A Level maths students in her spare time.

Given her love of tax and teaching, after qualifying for CTA Claire joined BPP where she trained students in ATT, CTA, ICAEW,ACCA and AAT qualifications. She was also involved in producing materials for the ATT and CTA courses.

Claire is known for bringing her wacky methods into classrooms and in June 2009 she had her maths notes published into a GCSE textbook 'Maths the Wacky Way'. Claire also has popular videos on YouTube to assist maths students.

In early 2011, she joined the Tolley Exam Training team and teaches across the CTA and ATT qualifications in our London venue. Claire is also head of our online courses, looking after the OTL courses and the Tolley Academy.

Biography:

Craig Simpson is a Tax Partner and owner of Bates Weston Tax LLP and Bates Weston Tax Advisory Limited. He specialises in providing tax advice to privately owned companies and high net worth families.

Craig set up his own advisory practice back in 2016 having held a number of senior positions in the national accountancy firms, seeing a gap in the market for a high quality, service focused advisory business. Advising across the range of tax matters relevant to the owner managed business. Craig particularly enjoys advising on complex reorganisations and reconstructions and developed a specialism in this area.

Craig regularly writes in the tax press and presents to fellow professionals and clients. Craig is also the author of Tolley’s Tax Planning for OMBs and consultant editor for the OMB module on TolleyGuidance.

Biography:

Richard has been in practice for over 25 years, originally specialising in corporate tax for large corporates and multinationals but has spent most of his career devoted to looking after the interests of UK owner manager businesses, their owners and their wider families.  He has carved out a reputation for making complicated concepts of taxation understandable for his clients. This is a skill he has put to good use in co-authoring Tolley’s Tax Planning For Owner Managed Businesses 2020-21, with his colleagues Craig Simpson and Cassandra Graham at Bates Weston Tax Advisory Ltd.

Biography:

Debra Moses has more than 28 years of experience in expatriate taxation. She assists multinational companies with their globally mobile workforce, including Canadian and US income tax compliance, international payroll, social security, compensation, global equity compensation and tax policy consulting.

Biography:

Passionate about tax, Edwin has since his graduation, accumulated more than two decades of professional experience in both international and Singapore taxation arenas. Throughout his career, Edwin has gained a wealth of experience and is equipped with extensive knowledge in providing advisory and compliance services covering all key areas of taxation: Corporate Tax, Individual Tax, Goods and Services Tax, Transfer Pricing and Stamp Duty, making him a proficient tax advisor for issues which cut across a spectrum of taxation matters.

Edwin has, in his current capacity and past employment with top tier international accounting firms, served multinational companies, publicly listed and private companies spanning various industries such as trading, manufacturing, construction, property development, shipping, oil and gas, information technology, media and advertising, pharmaceutical, hospitality, logistics, investment, fund management and private wealth services.

Edwin also enriched his experience during his stint in a regional headquarter of a French MNC, giving him a deep appreciation of tax issues from the clients’ perspective.

Biography:

Sarah specialises in all aspects of real estate fund taxation including fundraising and advising on equity investments into real estate.

Her experience includes:

• complex high-value real estate transactions;
• structuring a variety of different investment platforms domiciled in a diverse range of jurisdictions; and
• acting for institutional investors and private equity real estate funds.

Sarah is a member of the Investment Association's Tax Committee and the Stamp Taxes Practitioners Group.

Biography:

Andrew Rainford BA (Hons) CTA ATT is a Tax Advisor, author and editor living in North Wales, specialising in advising private clients and other advisers. He has a particular interest in advising Owner Managed Businesses, families and HNW individuals. Andrew trained and qualified with a boutique firm of accountants based in London, before taking over the operation of the tax department of a smaller firm in North Wales, whilst regularly contributing to various professional tax publications. Andrew also previously worked on EY's personal tax consultancy team. Andrew can be contacted at andrew@reddragontax.co.uk.

Biography:

Wouter Brackx is a Partner with Moore Belgium. For over twenty years, he has been giving VAT advice to domestic and international clients on operational business matters and restructurings.  Prior to joining Moore Belgium in December 2020, Wouter worked with PwC (2000 to 2010) and was a Partner with PKF-VMB (2011-2020).

Wouter primarily works for dynamic businesses/groups with international activities, mainly in the areas of manufacturing & distribution,  leasing, services and technology.  He is pragmatic, hands-on and has a strong solution focus, based on know-how.

Wouter is an expert in VAT planning (avoiding unnecessary VAT costs/registrations), VAT risk identification & mitigation, VAT cash flow optimizations (supply chain), VAT automation and international VAT compliance coordination. He also provides assistance in obtaining advance rulings from the Belgian Ruling Commission. He and his team also have significant experience in due diligence work for private equity funds.

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:

Morag is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Accountants in England and Wales and an Associate member of the Chartered Institute of Governance, with almost thirty years’ experience in advising clients on accounting and tax matters. Morag has a wealth of experience and knowledge, specifically of the healthcare sector [private and NHS], with over 25 years working with clients across all aspects of healthcare provision.

Based in Armstrong Watson’s Leeds office, Morag is a partner and head of the specialist Healthcare Services Team. Morag leads by example and ensures her team all adopt a proactive approach to developing and managing robust client relationships. “Understanding our clients’ aspirations enables us to share timely and relevant advice with them, and where appropriate, affording time to implement mitigating action to minimise any potential financial risk”.

With regards to the healthcare sector, Armstrong Watson is a member of AISMA [Association of Independent Specialist Medical Accountants], a strategic partner to the MDU / DDU, listed as a specialist medical accountant and tax advisor with Medics Money and a member of the UK200 Healthcare Group, all of which demonstrate our expertise in this field.

Morag contributes to Tolley’s Tax Planning and to TolleyGuidance OMB.

Biography:

Zoe Andrews is PSL Counsel and Head of Tax Knowledge at Slaughter and May. She has extensive experience of UK corporate tax and takes a special interest in international tax policy and developments. With her team, she supports all aspects of the firm’s tax practice.

Email: zoe.andrews@slaughterandmay.com; tel: 020 7090 5017

Biography:

Biography:

Laura is a CTA qualified VAT specialist. Laura joined Tolley from Deloitte, where she gained extensive practical experience in advising clients across all sectors on global VAT issues.

Whilst in practice, Laura was heavily involved in mentoring and training new graduates, working as part of the team responsible for designing and delivering the in-house VAT training pathway.

Laura is now an in-house VAT writer and technical VAT tutor at Tolley.

Biography:

Nathalie Varga is a managing director at PKF Österreicher & Partner GmbH & Co KG and advises companies of various sizes and sectors on all tax and business management issues. Since passing the tax advisor exam in 2016, she has also specialised in VAT issues.

She professionally advises clients on a daily basis on all domestic and international VAT issues, while always keeping an eye on other tax topics as well. In addition to VAT, Nathalie is also an expert in the field of group taxation.

Biography:

A corporate tax partner, Cathy is part of Mercer & Hole's team of business tax specialists providing assistance and support to clients across the firm.

All business clients are concerned about their tax burden and, with her team, Cathy offers guidance to business owners and directors across all relevant taxes. This not only involves guiding clients through the complexities of compliance but also looking at some of the more interesting aspects of corporate tax, for example, in relation to business transactions, the structuring of a business, incorporation, research and development (R&D) tax credits and employee share schemes. She therefore provides vital planning support and helps clients to minimise the tax burden for their business.

Cathy has a wealth of experience in the area of business transactions, particularly regarding company re-organisations, demergers, acquisitions, disposals, flotations and take-privates. However, Cathy also assists clients with the personal taxes that affect business owners, for example, regarding succession planning, IHT and capital gains tax planning.

Cathy has contributed chapters on: Selling a company, Buying a company and Franchising for Tolley's Tax Planning and is a regular writer for the firm's SME Plus blog and client newsletters.

An avid football fan, Cathy spends much of her spare time supporting Arsenal both at home and away fixtures.

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 started my career helping to sort out tax problems for high net worth individuals, corporations and high profile clients under investigation for suspected serious fraud at Ernst & Young. I specialised in anti avoidance legislation targeting offshore structures and held senior positions with large offshore fiduciary service providers. I established the Edge brand over a decade ago and in 2012 focused the main business on managing tax risks, handling suspected serious fraud cases and assisting clients and advisers with disclosures to HMRC.