Dafferns Growth Academy round 4, 2019: People performance – how to do less but get more from your people in 2020 In our latest thought-provoking workshop, we looked at emerging trends in people performance and took time to problem solve a real-life challenge facing each of our attendees. Achieving peak people performance is a never-ending balance… Read More

Thursday 31 October, the date we were promised by Boris Johnson the UK would leave the EU, with or without a deal. Parliament successfully frustrated the Government’s attempts to leave a no deal Brexit as an option to strengthen our negotiating position with the EU, with the “Benn Act” forcing Boris to ask for an… Read More

Thursday 17 October. A week ago I was in Amsterdam for my last visit to the EU before the 31 October Brexit deadline, working with AGN International as EMEA regional Chair, building connections and business for our UK clients. It was clear to me that our friends in the EU do not want the UK… Read More

Our experience shows that many of the tax investigations we handle are VAT investigations. This can be a very stressful time for the client and such investigations can be time consuming and lengthy in process. Such investigations can take anywhere in the region of three months to eighteen months to reach a conclusion depending on… Read More

Warren Buffett, one of the richest men in the US and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, famously had two rules for investing. Namely “Rule No. 1: Never lose money. Rule No. 2: Never forget rule No.1”. This insight sums up neatly why certain investors are attracted to the idea of multi-asset investing. The chief attraction? The ability… Read More

In the morning session of the AGN International conference in Malaga on 27th September 2019 we had to opportunity to learn more about tax issues in relation to cross-border employment. This was an excellent chance to work in groups on case studies to highlight the fundamental income tax and social security principles. These particular issues… Read More

When advising charity clients on strategic risk, the first question we ask is: “Are you making the desired impact in support of your beneficiaries, and can you evidence it?” Charities are set up as public benefit entities. The objects of your charity determine the overall purpose to which the charitable funds will be put, but… Read More

Friday 27 September. What a total mess we are in! A PM who loses his first six votes in the House, illegally prorogues parliament, misleads the Queen and yet, the opposition are unwilling to put forward a vote of no confidence. Twice Boris has asked for an election and twice he has failed to get… Read More

In the UK we live in an environment whereby the taxpayer is responsible for their own tax liability. HMRC opens investigations to see if the taxpayer has paid the right amount of tax on a random or selective basis. All this helps the government fill its ever expanding public finance black hole. Dealing with HMRC… Read More

Charities often involve themselves in non-prime purpose activities to generate income from which they can fund their charitable purposes.  Where these activities meet the “badges of trade” (see below) and breach certain size thresholds it is not tax efficient for them to remain within the charity itself so a trading subsidiary will often be established so… Read More