Biography:

Helen Wood is the founder of HLN WD TX, a share schemes and employee incentives advisory business.

She qualified as a CA with ICAS in 2009 and has worked as a specialist reward and incentives advisor for 17 years, spending 13 of those at KPMG followed by 3 ½ years as an Associate Director at RSM. Helen has worked with businesses ranging from start-ups to fully listed companies, spanning owner-managed businesses, private equity portfolio companies, and AIM listed businesses.

She advises on a wide range of employee share schemes and employment related securities matters including the design and implementation of effective management and employee incentives; tax valuation of employment related securities, buy and sell side transaction support, HMRC compliance, tax due diligence and employee ownership trust transactions.

Biography:

Have worked in VAT since 1974. Joined HMRC and worked there for 15 years before joining Grant Thornton. Currently working in the National Tax Office of Grant Thornton providing technical help and knowledge management to the Grant Thornton VAT practice.

My specialism is VAT & Aircraft and I have a portfolio of aviation clients ranging from owners of private jets, to air operators, fixed based operators, aircraft engineers and freelance pilots.

Biography:

Therese advise Swedish and foreign companies in VAT issues. Therese is specialised and mostly hired when the Swedish Tax Agency’s files lawsuits against companies concerning VAT.

Therese has experience from the Swedish Tax Agency, as a Law Clerk at the Stockholm Administrative Court, working with VAT for Mazars and EY, as well as other firms. She lectures paralegal law students at Påhlmans Institute of commerce. She has also published several articles in Bloomberg, in Svensk Skattetidning, and Legally Yours focused on VAT.

Therese also gives advice when clients move into new markets or enters a new business field, and for the ongoing business. She also help her clients in obtaining advance rulings from the Swedish Skatterättsnämnden.

With a broad mindset, integrity, deep knowledge, and an attitude to always look for the customer needs Therese has a great track record for her clients. Her clients are in many branches; IT, real estate, animation, outdoor life, construction, building, finance etc.

Biography:

Florentina Susnea is a PKF Finconta partner, with over 26 years of experience in the tax field, collaborating with a large number of clients in various fields of activity.

Her professional experience includes: statutory audit and IFRS, tax consulting, tax residency issues, financial and tax restructuring, documentation and Transfer Pricing policies, mergers and divisions, judicial, accounting and tax expertise, procurement due diligence.

She collaborates with other members of PKF International Limited companies to provide a more holistic approach to advising on cross-border customer taxation.

She is an accredited member of the following professional organizations: Chamber of Fiscal Consultants, Chamber of Financial Auditors of Romania, Chamber of Experts and Certified Accountants of Romania.

She also has a PhD in economics and has attended numerous national and international courses in the field of taxation.

Biography:

I am a Partner at Morton Fraser, based in Edinburgh, and I head the firm's Corporate Division. I am dual-qualified (Scotland and England/Wales), having practised in England for seven years before moving to Scotland and becoming Scots qualified in 1999.

I am a former winner of the Law Awards of Scotland's 'Corporate Lawyer of the Year' award and my corporate and commercial practice mainly advises owner-managed SMEs, with particular expertise in private equity/angel investment (advising investees as well as investors), company share/asset sales and purchases, joint ventures, corporate restructurings, contractual commercial matters (agency, distribution and franchising etc), IP, IT and data protection.

Since 2011, my team has advised the winners of the Converge Challenge, an annual competition run by Heriot-Watt University to support the next generation of research entrepreneurs in Scotland. I am also a member of Heriot-Watt University's Innovation Advisory Group and Morton Fraser's Management Board.

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:

Ian is a knowledge counsel in the tax department at Travers Smith. He has a particular focus on tax issues relating to the asset management sector. Ian regularly writes articles for tax publications. Ian contributes to Tolley's Tax Planning.

Biography:

James Kessler KC is particularly interested in taxation of foreign domiciliaries, offshore entities of all kinds, and trusts, wills and charities. Other interests include prosecution of tax crime in complex cases, particularly along the avoidance/evasion faultline, and freedom of information.

James has practiced as a barrister since 1985 and was appointed QC in 2003. He is also a member of the Bar of Northern Ireland.

He is in Band 1 in Chambers Directory in the Private Client Tax category, with a reference to "acumen and remarkable thoroughness of thought".

James is one of the founders of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners, for whom he drafted the STEP Standard Provisions, and a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Taxation.

James has received the Geoffrey Shindler Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Profession (STEP Private Client Awards, 2011).

James is a contributor to Tolley’s Tax Planning title.

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:

Raffaele Russo is an expert on international taxation and on international and domestic tax policy. He is currently Partner at Chiomenti Law Firm and a Senior Fellow at the Amsterdam Centre for Tax Law (ACTL) at the University of Amsterdam (UvA).

With over 20 years of professional experience, Raffaele has held key positions in renowned international and domestic institutions, including the International Bureau of Fiscal Documentation (IBFD) in Amsterdam, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in Paris, and the Italian Ministry of Economy and Finance in Rome.

At the OECD, he worked on double tax treaties and on transfer pricing. He played a key role in launching and delivering groundbreaking projects like the OECD work on tax and crimes and the work on aggressive tax planning, which later became the OECD/G20 BEPS Project, which he led until the delivery of the first phase of the Project in 2015.

During his service at the Italian Ministry of economy and finance, he focused on reforming the tax administration and on the digitalization of invoices and receipts. He was then appointed Deputy Chief of Cabinet in charge of taxation and of digitalization from early 2020 to March 2021.

He lectures in leading universities around the world and speaks frequently at conferences and seminars. He has published more than 100 articles in Italian and foreign journals.

He is member of the Rome Bar (Italy) since 2022.

Biography:

Sarah Robert is a Business Tax director.

Sarah heads up James Cowper's expatriate tax services. She assists corporate clients moving employees overseas and into the UK as well as companies and entrepreneurs setting up in the UK for the first time.

With extensive international experience in Big 4 firms, Sarah moved to James Cowper in 2009 and now advises a varied portfolio of companies. She is experienced in a wide range of taxation issues including; employment taxes, international payroll, international social security planning, double tax treaty advice and HMRC enquiries. She has a particular expertise in advising French companies and individuals and  having worked in France herself, Sarah has a good understanding of international business challenges.

Biography:

Ms. F. S. N. Marikkar FCA is a Fellow member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka. She is the governor of the Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA), Sri Lanka Chapter and a member of the Student Training & Development Committee of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka. She is experienced in conducting due diligence reviews, internal audits, statutory audits and BPO assignments. Her portfolio of clients includes companies involved in international transportation and multinational manufacturing, and service organizations. She is an author of the Sri Lanka country guide for Tolley’s Global Mobility/Employment Taxes.

Biography:

Paul Randall is a Senior Counsel at, and a former Partner in Hogan Lovells where he headed the London Executive Compensation and Share Incentives practice. He has 35 years’ experience of advising on the legal, tax and regulatory aspects of equity and cash-based incentive plans and employee trusts. He frequently advises in the context of corporate transactions including many IPOs, takeovers and capital raisings. He is a member of the Executive Committee of Share Plan Lawyers and the co-chair of the Share Plan Lawyers’ Corporate and Regulatory Committee.

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:

Mark Baycroft is a Partner at haysmacintyre focusing on Taxation for Owner Managed Businesses and Property Taxes, including capital gains, SDLT & ATED. He is a member of the CIOT, the ATT and the ICAEW. Mark has spent over 20 years at top 25 accountancy firms advising Owner Managed Businesses, but he enjoys creative thinking around challenging technical problems in any area of tax, particularly where multiple taxes are involved. He contributes to Tolley's Tax Planning.

Biography:

My goal is to help entrepreneurs grow their business in France and abroad by providing them financial, accounting and tax advice and solutions.

15+ years of experience in Finance, External & Internal Audit in a Big 4 Accounting Firm and Industry.

Experience in working with all management levels in cross cultural environments

spanning Asia, Americas, Europe, Middle-East & Africa.

Proven ability to demonstrate a comprehensive approach to resolve complex issues and to achieve targets / meet deadlines despite challenging situations.

Biography:

Lisa-Jane joined Tolley in 2010 to write and lecture on corporate and international tax matters, with a particular focus on the papers for the Advanced Diploma in International Tax (ADIT) offered by the UK Chartered Institute of Taxation.

A graduate from the University of St Andrews, Lisa-Jane completed her Masters Degree in Law at City University and went into private practice as a barrister (Lincoln's Inn) before training in tax with KPMG at their Tax Business School. Once qualfied as a Chartered Tax Adviser (CTA) Lisa-Jane worked as a tax lawyer in the City, undertaking predominantly cross-border transaction work and banking, before joining EY in 2004 to work offshore in the Channel Islands. Whilst working there she sat the ADIT exams and gained her international tax diploma.

When Lisa-Jane moved back to London she decided to use her overseas experience by teaching the Principles of International Tax, Transfer Pricing, UK and European Union options for the ADIT qualification, as well as the AT TOMC and APS TOLC papers for the CTA exams. Lisa-Jane also writes for the Tolley Corporation Tax Annual.

Biography:

Catherine is a Tax Partner with PKF O’Connor Leddy & Holmes Ltd and leads the VAT Department.Catherine has advised both domestic and international clients and work closely with foreign tax advisers to deliver VAT advice. Catherine and her team, devise solutions and provide their clients with comprehensive VAT advice enabling them to realise the full tax implications of the transaction.

Catherine has advised and delivered CPD lectures on business VAT transactions, VAT on property, structuring property transactions, and Brexit VAT considerations. She worked closely with the SFA on their business strategy document ‘A Supportive Tax Environment for Small Firms’.

Catherine is a contributing author to the Republic of Ireland country guide in Tolley's Global VAT.