Smith & Williamson Promotions

Joss Dalrymple and Geoff Everett have been appointed as National Head of Private Client Tax Services (PCTS) and London Head of PCTS respectively.

The new national role is to ensure that the firm continues to provide its hallmark superior standards of private client service and good co-ordination across PCTS teams in Smith & Williamson’s London, Guildford, Bristol and Salisbury offices.

“My role is to ensure good communication between offices and teams about best ideas and practices and to help develop our rising stars,” says Joss, who oversees the firm’s services focused on landed estates, high net worth individuals, non-UK domiciled individuals and the firm’s co-ordinated family office offering. “In the immediate future, our focus is on helping our clients through these challenging times and continuing to meet their needs.”
Joss’s new role mirrors Tim Lyford’s appointment as head of Corporate Tax, reflecting the growth of both sides of the business and the need for dedicated department leadership.

Geoff Everett takes over from Joss as head of the 75-strong private client tax team in London. “It’s a great honour to lead such professional and capable people,” says Geoff. “With HMRC’s ever closer scrutiny of taxpayers’ finances, we can expect more rigorous challenges from HMRC in the future, particularly for those clients with offshore interests.”

Geoff leads a London team that acts for a broad range of clients providing tax advisory, compliance and family office services to UK and foreign based private clients and professional practices.

“Everyone has worked very hard through the recession and the challenge now is to find the energy to drive the business forward and face the challenges of the future,” explains Geoff. “Our goal is to retain our core values while providing excellent client service.”
Earlier this year, Smith & Williamson won the title of Best High Net Worth Team and shortlisted for Best Tax Team of the Year at the LexisNexis Taxation Awards.

Private banks gearing up on recruitment

London's private banks continue to grow their respective HNW tax teams. The provision of holistic personal tax and personal financial planning advice is certainly 'flavour of the month'.

They are particularly keen on individuals with both the CTA and Certificate of Financial Planning, although the latter is by no means essential. Non-dom planning skills are of course a pre-requisite. Whilst the tax teams of the private banks are not yet in full recruitment mode, they are beginning to pick up senior managers from the Big 4 and Top 10 accountancy practices. The combination of attractive packages, comparable quality of work and no time sheets, is starting to draw some of the better 'candidates' onto the market.

BTG acquires specialist tax advisors from Vantis

Begbies Traynor Group, the specialist professional services consultancy, today announces the expansion of its BTG Tax business with a seven-strong team joining the London office from Vantis Plc.

Effective from 1 July 2010, Don Mavin will become Managing Partner of the enlarged London BTG Tax business, responsible for the further development of the Tax practice in the South East region. Don was formerly National Head of the Tax Disputes & Litigation group at Vantis Plc and brings with him his Customs Investigation and Litigation team of Allan Brown and Martin O’Neill, Directors, and Simon Sutcliffe and Ian Manly, Consultants.

Peter Fairchild, also joins BTG Tax from Vantis Plc as Partner, providing private client tax advice. Peter’s extensive expertise in the Sports sector complements BTG Tax’s existing national expertise in this area and will provide a strong platform from which to develop this offering in the London market.

RSM Tenon acquire Vantis businesses

RSM Tenon, the Top 10 accountancy firm, has announced it has acquired the Epsom, London, Leicester advisory offices, the national Financial Management operations, the London Forensic Accounting team and the Thames Valley Recovery office of its public competitor, Vantis.

The acquisition sees circa 300 staff augment the existing substantial RSM Tenon teams, adding up to an estimated £27 million to the firm's annual fee income.
There will be over 190 staff members - including 30 directors - from the Wigmore Street office who will become part of RSM Tenon.

The deal brings significant extra audit, tax and advisory work, especially to RSM Tenon's London operation, reflecting the Group's commitment to growth in the Capital.

RSM Tenon's Financial Management division, already the largest Financial Services arm of any UK accountancy firm, will jump to a Top 20 IFA firm nationally, with over 300 staff operating from offices across the UK.

Payne Hicks trio set up Private Client boutique

Three Payne Hicks Beach private client partners will leave the firm next month to set up a boutique private client practice. Louise Stoten, a partner at Payne Hicks for the past 10 years, will set up New Quadrant Partners along with partners Marcus Parker and Jane Bennett, who both joined the firm last year. They will be joined by Payne Hicks associate Zoë Camp and tax and trust principal Simon Rees. Joan Major, director of wealth management at London-based multi-family office Sand Aire, will also be joining New Quadrant Partners.

First reported on TheLawyer.com

Smith & Williamson win Best HNW team at 2010 Taxation Awards

Top 10 accountancy firm Smith & Williamson have won the Best High Net Worth Tax Team award at the 2010 Taxation Awards dinner.

Full details at: http://www.smith.williamson.co.uk/news/3322-smith-williamson-wins-again-at-taxation-awards

IMF proposes two big new bank taxes to fund bail-outs

The BBC has learned that financial institutions and banks face paying two new taxes in an attempt to make them more accountable for the costs of future financial and economic rescue packages. The plan is more radical than initially anticipated and includes an initial flat-rate levy, plus an additional tax on profits and pay. The finance ministers of the G20 nations will be discussing the proposals this weekend. The chancellor Alistair Darling said the IMF's proposals were "important" and should be welcomed.

For the full story visit:http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8633455.stm

LG Partners establish new HNW boutique

Four former partners from London law firm LG have established a Mayfair-based boutique law firm Berkeley Law. The firm which has 14 lawyers, includes former LG partners Nick Rucker, Alexandra Ruffel, Glen Hurstfield and Tim Thornton-Jones. Their aim is to build a niche wealth advisory practice advising UK and international ultra high net worth individuals.

No escape for tax exiles?

The Court of Appeal has upheld the right of HM Revenue & Customs to tax a businessman, Robert Gaines-Cooper, who has lived in the Seychelles since 1976. The judges said that he had never been exempt from UK taxes as a non-resident citizen and now should pay a tax bill of £30m relating to the years from 1993-20004. Although he had abided by the rules to spend fewer than 91 days here, he had still not cut his ties with the UK.

Thousands of wealthy UK citizens living abroad as tax exiles may now find they have to pay UK taxes after all.

A key feature of the Revenue's old guidance on whether someone was resident in the UK for tax purposes - known as IR20 - was whether they spent, on average, fewer than 91 days here each year.

"If you read the old guidance at face value, as most of us did, and you spent less than 91 days here, you would have been treated as a tax exile," said Mike Warburton of accountants Grant Thornton, who was an expert witness in the case.

However, the three Appeal Court judges ruled that it had always been the case that any would-be tax exile, first had to show they had really left the country.

Any continuing connections would mean that he had not actually cut his ties with the UK and would thus not be able to avoid UK taxes.

The 91-day rule, they said, did not in fact establish non-residency, and was "important only to establish whether non-resident status, once acquired, has been lost".

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8519803.stm

HMRC increasingly target HNWIs

City law firm McGrigors has undertaken research showing that HMRC collected £373 million from investigations into wealthy taxpayers in the last financial year, a 21 per cent rise on the previous year and a 360 per cent increase over five years. HMRC established a specialist HNW unit in April 2009 to focus specifically in the field.

This news comes on the back of a failed attempt by UK-born businessman Robert Gaines-Cooper, to win a judicial review of a major dispute with the UK tax authorities. HMRC refused to accept he had really left the country when he moved to the Seychelles in 1976. The case further illustrates the risks run by tax exiles who nevertheless keep some links with their home nation.

Leeds Private Office hires two Partners

Leeds-based boutique adviser, The Private Office continues to grow its presence in the wealth management sector, with the appointment of two new Partners. Alistair Callander, who was previously with Deloitte and Credit Suisse, will provide family wealth planning advice with a particular focus on IHT and trusts issues. Joe O’Shea is an experienced and Chartered financial planner and joins from AWD Chase de Vere. See www.theprivateofficellp.com

Cripps’ Partners recognised as leading Private Client lawyers

Leadng regional law firm, Cripps Harries Hall LLP are proud to announce that two of their private client partners have been recognised as Leading Lawyers in this year’s Citywealth Leaders List.

Amanda Andrews, a partner in the Family Team and Simon Leney, a Partner in the Tax, Trusts and Probate Team have both been named as Prominent Figures within their respective areas of practice.

The Citywealth Leaders List is compiled through the recommendation of peers and clients. All individuals are put forward confidentially by private clients or by their peers in law firms, accountants and financial institutions and the rankings are the result of detailed research. Those listed are acknowledged to possess a sterling reputation for expertise in their field, first class client care and sophisticated services for wealthy families and individuals.

Myles McIntosh, Head of the Private Client Group at Cripps said “We are delighted that Amanda and Simon have been recognised as leaders in their fields reflecting the high standard of expertise and client care provided by Cripps Harries Hall. This reinforces the recent excellent rankings we have achieved in other independent publications highlighting the quality of our Private Client service”.

Source: Cripps Harries Hall LLP

Farrer & Co. appoint two new Partners

Leading Private Client law firm, Farrer & Co, has announced the appointment of two new Private Client Partners.

Rhoddy Voremberg will be joining from the Legal 500 recommended team at Wilsons, whilst Nick Dunnell joins from Speechly Bircham's highly-rated team.

Rhoddy advises on estate planning, all aspects of UK trusts, succession and taxation. He specializes in advising landowners on preserving their estates, family succession, heritage property, land development and other aspects of the diversification of estate businesses.

Nick specialises in onshore and offshore trusts and personal tax planning, including inheritance tax, capital gains tax and income tax. He advises trustees and individuals (particularly foreign domiciliaries).

Tentative recovery in recruitment sector

The Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) has reported seeing greater demand for staff from both employers and recruitment agencies. The REC’s director of external affairs, Tom Hadley, has noted a definite increase in demand for permanent staff although he warns that the situation is fragile. He believes that businesses are likely to be cautious about the number of new workers they take on and could prefer to create more flexible positions than permanent jobs. Last week the Office for National Statistics reported that the total number of UK unemployed had fallen to 2.46m by the end of November 2009.