The Tax Professionals Podcast: Recent Episodes
Jack Bonehill
This podcast helps tax professionals, typically by helping you become a better tax professional, helping you pass the ATT and CTA exams, or helping you decide what you want to do with your tax career.
Episodes are released bi-weekly, released on Mondays, and include a mix of solo and guest episodes.
Jack Bonehill, CTA, hosts the podcast. He's an employment tax specialist, working in the area since 2015, and won Tolley's Taxation's Rising Star award in 2023.
Website: https://www.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/
Subscribe: https://www.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/subscribe/
Tax Skills Masterclasses: https://www.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/masterclasses/
Sub Series: Tax Career Success Secrets, sharing the secrets behind tax-career success, and Tax Role Insights, giving you an insider's view into the different available tax roles.
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Many tax professionals I speak to tell me they don’t feel confident when it comes to looking into technical points and reaching tax conclusions.
In this episode, I share why I think many people lack confidence in this area before sharing 6 practical tips to help you improve your confidence.
Links
Tax Research Masterclass (built the confidence of many tax professionals)
Episode show notes
Timings
- Amy's tax research transformation story - from no confidence to being very good
- [00:03:16] Why tax professionals/advisors lack confidence with tax research and technical
- [00:05:40] Tip 1: Start Proving to Yourself That You Can Do It with Simpler Scenarios
- [00:07:35] Tip 2: Learn how to do each element of research well (helped by training)
- [00:09:55] Tip 3: Get Involved in As Much Tax Research As Possible
- [00:11:29] Tip 4: Ask for help if you get stuck
- [00:12:30] Tip 5: Document Your Research and Reasoning for Conclusions
- [00:13:43] Tip 6: Accept tax research is complicated, difficult and slow
- [00:15:13] Two key principles underlying the tips
- [00:17:00] Amber Kirton-Vaughan's learnings and improvements from the Tax Research Masterclass
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In this episode, Jack Bonehill (2023 Taxation’s Rising Star winner) is joined by Charlie Friend (2025 Taxation’s Rising Star winner) to share their advice on how to excel early in your tax career, progress quickly, and create an award-winning Rising Star application.
Links
Episode show notes
The Tax Lab: free webinars to improve your tax skills. Real scenarios, tackled live. Includes past recordings.
Masterclasses for Tax Professionals: Tax Advice Masterclass and Tax Research Masterclass.
Timings
- [00:01:53] Charlie introduction
- [00:03:35] Introducing the topic: Journey to Winning Tolley's Taxation's Rising Star
- [00:04:15] What Charlie did to make PwC tax manager at 24
- [00:08:18] How Charlie got her tax career off to quick and successful progression and promotion in the early stages
- [00:12:05] Key advice: Focus on what you can control with your tax career & mindset
- [00:13:49] Jack's advice for excelling early in your career
- [00:15:12] Why Charlie decided to apply for Taxation's Rising Star & why she didn't apply earlier
- [00:21:00] Advice to create a winning Tolley's Taxation Awards application (Taxation's Rising Star in particular)
- [00:34:51] The Night Charlie Won
- [00:38:41] What does Charlie think led to her winning over other people?
- [00:42:22] What's next for Charlie & Jack?
- [00:44:58] How Charlie knows that she doesn't want to become a tax partner
- [00:49:18] Charlie & Jack's advice for early stages of your tax career if you want to excel
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In accountancy firms, tax teams can easily give away advice for free, often with no recognition, to clients of the wider firm. This can cause friction and can be difficult to manage. In this episode, host Jack Bonehill is joined by David Maslen, Head of Tax at Old Mill, to discuss why this happens and to share practical insights to help you obtain a fee or other recognition for your tax team’s valuable work.
Links
Episode show notes
The Tax Lab: free webinars to improve your tax skills. Real scenarios, tackled live. Includes past recordings.
Timings
- [00:01:45]Intro to David
- [00:05:04] Introducing the topic for the episode (how to charge firm's clients for tax advice/do for free expectation)
- [00:07:07] What David thinks cause/underpins the "billing for tax work issues" in accountancy firms
- [00:09:47] Wanting to help and not wanting to talk about fees
- [00:13:21] Potential solution: clarify what is and isn't covered by annual fees or fees for non tax work
- [00:14:53] The impact of "who holds the client relationship"
- [00:16:24] Non-tax specialists quoting for the tax work
- [00:17:06] Pushback on fees is more from colleagues than the client
- [00:19:35] How Jack tries to solve the problem
- [00:22:36] Relationships with your colleagues and how that helps
- [00:27:01] Colleagues trusting you and feeling reassured
- [00:31:23] Jack's summary of David's way of dealing with the issue and Jack's own tip
- [00:31:45] How a tax team framework could help
- [00:34:00] The value of a tax team to a firm outside of billing/fees
- [00:38:01] How David ensures recognition where tax can't bill for the work
- [00:43:11] David's final advice on the challenge
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In this episode of The Tax Professionals Podcast, host Jack Bonehill joined MTD Therapy, a community for accountants and tax advisors, for an unfiltered discussion — sometimes full-on ranting — about the latest UK Budget.
Around the ranting, you’ll hear clear explanations of the key Budget announcements and expert insights into them.
Episode show notes
The Tax Lab: free webinars to improve your tax skills. Real scenarios, tackled live.
MTD Therapy
Timings
- [00:01:49] First rant
- [00:08:07] Start of technical discussions on the announcements
- [00:14:22] Pension Salary Sacrifice Changes
- [00:20:17] Electric cars
- [00:25:56] Writing Down Allowances (WDAs)
- [00:29:25] Employee benefits/expenses tax changes
- [00:36:45] Working from home expenses
- [00:39:21] Tax industry - positive or negative direction?
- [00:41:27] Regular payments throughout the year for self assessment
- [00:45:18] MTD
Guests
- Robyn Milstead, Director of Tax at LKA Chartered Accountants & Director of Accountants Therapy
- Tom Bickle, Director of JP Blackmoor & Director of Accountants Therapy
- Emma Rawson, Director of Public Policy, Association of Taxation Technicians (ATT)
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Your advice is probably full of unnecessary tax jargon without you even realising it. However, you can use simpler language without losing meaning — and your advice will be much better for it. In this episode, host Jack Bonehill identifies the overly complex wording in a real piece of tax advice and shows how the same points can be written in plain English that clients actually understand and will love you for.
Episode show notes
The Tax Lab: free webinars to improve your tax skills. Real scenarios, tackled live.
The Tax Advice Masterclass: teaching you a repeatable method to write high-quality tax advice with confidence and less self-doubt.
Timings
00:14 – Intro: turning complex tax language into plain English that clients love.
01:11 – Client scenario: husband-and-wife partnership selling business units.
03:15 – Simplifying “income tax implications.”
06:13 – Simplifying “capital disposal” and removing jargon.
10:18 – Explaining rollover relief in plain English.
13:17 – Breaking down business asset disposal relief (BADR) simply.
15:45 – Using examples and numbers to make advice tangible.
Similar episodes:
TTPP124: Two Questions That Make Your Tax Advice Instantly Better in Your Clients’ Eyes
TTPP83: Improve Your Tax Advice Skills – Stories and Tips of 2 Tax Professionals
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You might be giving technically perfect tax advice — but if it’s too long or too complicated, it won’t land well with clients.
In this episode, Jack Bonehill shares a real story where two simple questions helped turn a colleague’s advice from technical to client-friendly. You can use these questions to instantly make your advice clearer, shorter, and more valuable from a client’s perspective.
If you want to deliver better advice that clients truly value — this episode is for you.
Show notes: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/TTPP124
The Tax Lab (real scenarios, tackled live: https://www.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/thetaxlab/
Masterclasses for tax professionals: https://www.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/masterclasses/
Timings
- [00:00:25] Story: reviewing a colleague’s draft of tax advice and simplifying it with two simple questions
- [00:02:13] Example: how we tend to overcomplicate advice with unnecessary detail
- [00:03:34] Why cutting complexity throughout a report makes advice stronger overall
- [00:04:38] How to make your advice more client-friendly
- [00:06:22] A two-step method — draft first, refine later using the two key questions
- [00:07:41] Exercise: how to apply the two questions in your next piece of advice
- [00:09:29] Upcoming sessions and future topics in The Tax Lab
The Tax Lab
Sharpen your skills as a tax advisor by seeing exactly how I think and approach real scenarios that we encounter as tax professionals, with The Tax Lab.
The Tax Lab gives you a glimpse inside my mind — my thoughts and my approach — as I tackle real scenarios live, so you can refine your own way of working.
Sessions of The Tax Lab are free to attend. Sign up so I can invite you to all future sessions.
Sign up here
Send us a text
Claritas Tax started in 2012 as a one-person venture. Today, it’s a 100-strong firm with eight offices across the UK. In this episode, Iain Wright, founder of Claritas, shares the journey from leaving a safe career path to building arguably the UK’s fastest-growing specialist tax firm.
We talk about the first business plan, the earliest hires, how Claritas scaled, the challenges of competing without a big brand, and the trust it takes to let go of work in order to grow.
Show notes: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/TTPP123
The Tax Lab (real scenarios, tackled live: https://www.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/thetaxlab/
Timings
- (1:00) Intro to Iain, Claritas Tax, and time-based billing story
- (8:00) Iain's options immediately before starting Claritas Tax, back in 2012, and his thought process
- (11:00) The business plan Iain drew up prior to starting Claritas - the plan and vision
- (13:40) The first hire - was it senior or junior?
- (18:02) How did Iain scale the business to 100 employees?
- (22:52) What challenges did the business run into as it started to get bigger (past 11 or so staff)
- (26:29) How Claritas solved the "lack of brand" awareness problem/challenge
- (29:24) The differences between running a small firm and a larger one
- (32:33) What's Iain's role like now?
- (36:03) The importance of trust
- (38:57) Stand out lessons to Iain from his journey - what he wished he knew when he started
- (41:01) What's been the hardest part of the journey for Iain?
The Tax Lab
Sharpen your skills as a tax advisor by seeing exactly how I think and approach real scenarios that we encounter as tax professionals, with The Tax Lab.
The Tax Lab gives you a glimpse inside my mind — my thoughts and my approach — as I tackle real scenarios live, so you can refine your own way of working.
Sessions of The Tax Lab are free to attend. Sign up so I can invite you to all future sessions.
Sign up here
Send us a text
Want to get better at tax research? In this episode, I share my five-step process to always get to the answer — and show you how it worked in a tricky but real client case so you can start using it yourself.
Tax Research Masterclass:
Go to thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/trm for details and to enrol.
Show notes:
https://www.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/ttpp122/
Timings
[00:00] Introduction — why tax research feels overwhelming
[00:00:22] My 5-step process in action: real-life client story
[00:07:34] My 5-step tax research process explained
[00:08:31] Deep dive into each of the five steps
[00:10:47] Typical challenges tax professionals face during tax research
[00:13:30] Exercise: try the 5-step process yourself
[00:13:59] How the Tax Research Masterclass would help you
Resources
TTPP60: Improving Your Tax Research Skills - Stories and Tips of 3 Tax Professionals
Croner-I's Online Tax Research Platform: Free Trial
Subscribe
https://www.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/subscribe/
Send us a text
From this episode, learn what a Tax Editor does and hear advice on how to become one. Andrew Rainford – Tax Editor at Lefebvre for over ten years, shares what he enjoys, the challenges, and the different types of tax-editing roles that exist. Take a listen if you’re interested in hearing about different tax roles or have a specific interest in editing.
Show notes: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/TTPP121
Subscribe: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/subscribe
Tax skills courses: https://www.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/masterclasses/
Take control of your career progression free course: https://documents.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/freecourse
Timings
- Overview of Andrew’s tax career – from auditor to tax editor
- (7:45) What does the role of a Tax Editor look like? What do they do?
- (14:30) Different types of Tax Editor roles - examples
- (15:30) Story where editing has not gone smoothly
- (21:30) What Andrew enjoys most about being a Tax Editor
- (24:45) What Andrew finds challenging about being a Tax Editor
- (27:30) How Andrew keeps up to date on technical, not being in practice
- (28:30) How Tax Editing Roles can vary (difference between content editor and commissioning editor)
- (31:30) What type of businesses can you work for as a Tax Editor?
- (32:45 ) Andrew's advice if you're interested in becoming a Tax Editor
Resources
Info on training courses for tax professionals/teams, on tax skills and other skills valuable for working in tax
GeniA-L Tax Research Tool – Details and Demo
Masterclasses for tax professionals: https://www.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/masterclasses/
Recommended podcast episodes:
- TTPP113: Exceptional Tax Technical Skills: Key Benefits and Why You Should Develop Yours
- TTPP119: From In-House Tax Apprentice to Manager: How To Succeed with an Unconventional Tax Career with Chloe Radcliffe-Scott
- TTPP118: How She Reinvented Herself, Her Tax Career and Created Amazing Team Culture with Sehjal Gupta [Tax Career Success Secrets Series]
Send us a text
AI tools for tax research: the role they can play, how to use them well, and the safeguards to avoid getting things wrong and manage risk – this is what’s covered by this episode. AI can help save time, make our lives easier, and make tasks less frustrating as part of the research process. We are joined by Tony Court, who has worked in tax for over 40 years, and who has been testing and helping refine a tax-research AI tool. From his experience, he has learn a few tricks along the way about how to use them better. He shares them in this episode.
Show notes: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/TTPP120
Subscribe: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/subscribe
Take control of your career progression free course: https://documents.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/freecourse
Masterclasses for tax professionals: https://www.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/masterclasses/
Timings
- Intro to Tony and his tax career
- (8:15) How Tony has been involved in the creation of an AI tool for tax research
- (19:00) The role of AI in tax research and advice for using it well
- (29:15) Precautions and safeguards for using AI in tax research
- (41:00) Can you use general AI tools like Chat GPT in tax research?
- (45:30) Tony’s recommendation on the back of this episode
Resources
Info on training courses for tax professionals/teams, on tax skills and other skills valuable for working in tax
GeniA-L Tax Research Tool – Details and Demo
Masterclasses for tax professionals: https://www.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/masterclasses/
Recommended podcast episodes:
- TTPP119: From In-House Tax Apprentice to Manager: How To Succeed with an Unconventional Tax Career with Chloe Radcliffe-Scott
- TTPP118: How She Reinvented Herself, Her Tax Career and Created Amazing Team Culture with Sehjal Gupta [Tax Career Success Secrets Series]
- TTPP113: Exceptional Tax Technical Skills: Key Benefits and Why You Should Develop Yours
Send us a text
Chloe Radcliffe-Scott has made a success of her squiggly tax career to date, despite living with a long-term health condition, Crohn’s. She started off as an in-house tax apprentice, before moving to accountancy practices, back to in-house and then also swapping specialism from corporation tax to employment taxes! You don’t need a traditional, linear path to have success, and Chloe shares her story which proves that along with her associated career advice.
Show notes: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/TTPP119
Subscribe: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/subscribe
Take control of your career progression free course: https://documents.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/freecourse
You’ll Learn
- Overview of Chloe and her career
- (6:00) Being first in-house tax apprentice in the North
- (7:45) Did Chloe know she wanted to work in tax? Did she know the difference between in-house and in-practice?
- (11:15) What happened when Chloe decided to move from her in-house tax role, when she had only worked in-house but wanted a practice role
- (14:30) How Chloe quickly progressed from tax apprentice to group tax accountant in 4 years
- (21:15) Setting out clear expectations for promotion
- (24:00) The difficulities Chloe had when moving from her in house role at Drax to EY. Her experience and how she solved the problem
- (29:45) Why Chloe decided to move to an accountancy firm instead of another in-house role
- (35:00) What she didn't like about her tax roles in accountancy firm
- (39:00) Trying out a tax advisory role in an accounting firm and what she didn't like about accounting firm roles and why she preferred in house
- (46:30) KPIs driving bad behaviour
- (48:00) You might be suited to some tax roles but not others
- (50:00) Does Chloe regret trying out accountancy firm tax roles?
- (51:15) Why Chloe decided to change tax specialism
- (55:00) How did Chloe convince Balfour Beatty to employ her as an in-house Employment Tax Manager when by trade she was a Corporation Tax specialist?
- (57:15) The Secret to Chloe's Tax Career Success Despite it Being Squiggly and her advice for anyone considering a non conventional/linear tax career
Resources
Masterclasses designed for tax professionals to help you master vital career skills:
- Tax Research Masterclass – teaching you how to find the answer to even the most complex tax queries, with the least pain possible.
- Tax Advice Masterclass – teaching you how to provide high-quality tax advice that your clients appreciate and value.
Take a look and enrol, here. Or email me jack@thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com and we can have a chat.
Register for a free 1-month trial for Croner-I’s tax guidance/resources
Book a call with ProTax Recruitment to talk about anything related to your tax career: http://thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/bookprotax
Send us a text
This episode is mainly a slice of my story – from childhood, to tax, to side hustle – and I thought you might find this insight interesting, learn a few tips along the way, particularly around winning tax work, business development (BD) and hear what I’ve learnt from the podcast that has helped me with my tax career and may help you with yours too. The episode is from me being interviewed by Craig McKeller, for The Professional Speaks podcast, and he kindly agreed for me to share it on my podcast, too!
Show notes: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/TTPP117
Masterclasses for tax professionals: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/masterclasses
Subscribe: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/subscribe
Take control of your career progression free course: https://documents.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/freecourse
You’ll Learn
- A bit about me (Jack) and my background
- (11:45) How did I get into the tax world?
- (15:30) My approach to winning tax work
- (22:30) How did I monetise the podcast?
- (28:45 & 41:00) What I’ve learnt from running a podcast and a training business that’s helped me as a tax director
- (34:00) A bit about me winning Tolley’s Taxation’s Rising Star
- (36:45) My goals for the next 12 months
Resources
Masterclasses designed for tax professionals to help you master vital career skills:
- Tax Research Masterclass – teaching you how to find the answer to even the most complex tax queries, with the least pain possible.
- Tax Advice Masterclass – teaching you how to provide high-quality tax advice that your clients appreciate and value.
Take a look and enrol, here.
Register for a free 1-month trial for Croner-I’s tax guidance/resources
Send us a text
Sehjal’s divorce supercharged her tax career, going from tax consultant to director in three years. Hear her story, how she did it, how she’s created a team with a culture where people don’t leave, and her advice if you want to be successful in your own tax career.
Show notes: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/TTPP118
Subscribe: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/subscribe
Take control of your career progression free course: https://documents.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/freecourse
You’ll Learn
- Overview of Sehjal’s career
- (9:00) Sehjal’s quick progression after her divorce, including the shift in mindset
- (20:30) Confidence as a woman working in tax
- (23:30) How Sehjal went from tax consultant to tax directly in three years – what’s her secret?
- (26:30) Sehjal’s strengths which she’s taken advantage of in her career
- (29:30) How Sehjal created a team culture where people don’t leave
- (39:15) Difficulties in Sehjal’s career (overlooked for promotions, bullying, depression, etc)
- (45:00) Promotions and “fitting in the box” for it
- (48:15) Career advice Sehjal would give to her younger self, knowing what she knows now
- (50:30) Sehjal’s number 1 tip if you want success in your tax career
Resources
Masterclasses for tax professionals:
- Tax Research Masterclass – finding the answer to tax questions, using tax legislation and guidance
- Tax Advice Masterclass – how to provide high-quality tax advice that clients value
Register for a free 1-month trial for Croner-I’s tax guidance/resources
Send us a text
This episode is focussed on growing or scaling a tax team in a professional services firm – something which is not natural for us as tax professionals. Our guest, David Francis, Partner and Head of Tax Dispute Resolution at Grant Thornton, shares his experiences and advice for how to grow a tax team, so that you can do the same.
Show notes: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/TTPP116
Masterclasses for tax professionals: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/masterclasses
Subscribe: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/subscribe
Take control of your career progression free course: https://documents.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/freecourse
You’ll Learn
- A bit about Dave and his tax career
- (11:00) When Dave started getting involved in growing a tax team
- (20:30) The GT tax dispute resolution team when Dave stated there and the business plan to grow
- (25:15) Was team culture covered in the business plan?
- (30:00) The culture Dave wants in his growing tax team
- (35:15) The Service Line Agreement that Dave’s team had created – what is it?
- (45:00) Wrapping thoughts up: David’s advice to scale a tax team
- (48:30) The work-winning side of scaling a tax team. How to ensure you have enough
- (54:00) Dave’s leadership philosophy
- (1:00:00) Dave’s plan to grow the team further
Resources
Masterclasses designed for tax professionals to help you master vital career skills:
- Tax Research Masterclass – teaching you how to find the answer to even the most complex tax queries, with the least pain possible.
- Tax Advice Masterclass – teaching you how to provide high-quality tax advice that your clients appreciate and value.
Take a look and enrol, here. or email me at jackthetaxprofessionalspodcast.com
Register for a free 1-month trial for Croner-I’s tax guidance/resources
Book a call with ProTax to talk about your career: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/Bookprotax
Send us a text
Masterclasses for Tax Professionals: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/masterclasses
Show notes: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/TTPP49
Subscribe: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/subscribe
Take control of your career progression free course: https://documents.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/freecourse
You’ll Learn
- 5 skills that are important to master early on in your tax career
- Some tips to help you improve these skills
Rough Timings
- (2:30) Story (relevant!)
- (6:30) Skill 1 - Tax Research (finding, using and applying tax guidance, legislation and case law
- (10:15) Skill 2 - Explaining tax concepts clear to others
- (13:45) Skill 3 - Tax Advisory Skills
- (19:00) Skill 4 - Inspection and Fact Finding Skill
- (23:30) Skill 5 - Relationship Building Skill
Related Episodes
Tax research:
TTPP 1: How to Undertake Effective Tax Research
TTPP 26: 8 Tax-Research Sins
TTPP37: Master Using Tax Legislation (and the Benefits this Brings)
TTPP42: Master Using HMRC Manuals for Tax Research
Tax Advice:
TTPP 10: How to Write Good-Quality and Practical Tax Advice
Explaining Tax rules Clearly:
TTPP18: How to Explain Tax Rules & Concepts Clearly (to Help Others Understand!)
Send us a text
This episode is all about how to be an excellent ‘tax junior’. By tax junior, I mean someone in the early stages of their career, including tax trainees, tax graduates, and tax apprentices. We are joined by Olivia Pryer, who was an excellent tax junior, loved by her boss, and she joins us to share her mindset, approach and tips, and help you or your colleges be an excellent tax junior and asset to the team.
Show notes: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/TTPP115
Subscribe: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/subscribe
Masterclasses for tax professional
Take control of your career progression free course: https://documents.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/freecourse
You’ll Learn
- A bit about Olivia and her tax career
- (7:30) What Olivia expected from her first tax role (which was at ETC Tax) before she started
- (10:00) How Olivia did a good of tax compliance work – completing tax returns – impressing her colleges
- (19:30) Self-reading and self-learning she did with tax knowledge
- (24:15) How Olivia did a good job of tax advisory work and how this is different to doing a good job of compliance work.
- (29:00) How to get involved in tax advisory work early on in your career
- (35:00) What should tax juniors/graduates/trainees do to be an excellent junior?
- (39:00) Olivia’s final advice to those who want to be an excellent tax junior/graduate/trainee
Resources
Masterclasses designed for tax professionals to help you master vital career skills:
- Tax Research Masterclass – teaching you how to find the answer to even the most complex tax queries, with the least pain possible.
- Tax Advice Masterclass – teaching you how to provide high-quality tax advice that your clients appreciate and value.
Take a look and enrol, here.
Register for a free 1-month trial for Croner-I’s tax guidance/resources
Book a call with ProTax to talk about your career: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/Bookprotax
Contact details
jack@thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jackbonehill94/
Send us a text
There are common reasons why, time and time again, students fail their Chartered Tax Adviser (CTA) exams. To explain these, Nitin and I have created the “10 types of bad CTA students”, and to make it more memorable, we have assigned a name (hopefully fun names) to each one.
In the episode, we talk through each bad type of student to help you identify any bad traits in yourself or you staff, and then we summarise our advice to increase the changes of you or your staff passing.
Show notes: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/TTPP114
Subscribe: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/subscribe
Take control of your career progression free course: https://documents.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/freecourse
You’ll Learn
- (4:00) Bad Type of CTA Student #1: The Quirkmeister
- (9:00) Bad Type of CTA Student #2: The Negative Nell
- (14:30) The Bad Type of CTA Student #3: The Sloth, Lazebag or Deluded
- (20:30) Bad Type of CTA Student #4: The One Trick Pony
- (24:30) Bad Type of CTA Student #5: The Stickler
- (28:30) Bad Type of CTA Student #6: The Mock Master or Drill Sergant
- (39:00) Bad Type of CTA Student #7: Blame Thrower
- (42:30) Bad Type of CTA Student #8: The Shortcut Seeker
- (47:15) Bad Type of CTA Student #9: The Last Minuter
- (55:15) Bad Type of CTA Student #10: The Legislation Love
Resources – Other CTA Podcasts:
All other exam-support related podcast episodes: https://www.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/category/podcast/att-cta/
Particularly recommend: TTPP96: Why She Failed One CTA Paper Multiple Times but Then Passed and Qualified with Amy Rylance
Free Downloads
FREE – CTA Study Phase Checklist so you can make sure you ‘complete’ the study phase before revision, going into revision as prepared as you can
FREE – ATT/CTA revision folder guide, which was made when the exams became open book. This is somewhat outdated now, but there is still useful information in there
FREE – 8 CTA/ATT revision tips summary, which does exactly what it says on the tin
Send us a text
I share the key benefits of exceptional tax technical ability is and why you should aim to have this, illustrated through a real client story with highs, lows, disappointment, and me being considered a charlatan, by two lawyers. But who was right?
Show notes: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/TTPP113
Subscribe: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/subscribe
Take control of your career progression free course: https://documents.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/freecourse
You’ll Learn
- (2:30) Story: The Million Pound Employee Payout
- (12:00) Story debrief
- (14:15) What I mean by technical knowledge, ability and skills
- (15:00) Key benefits of exceptional technical knowledge, skills, and ability
- (20:00) Why you should aim to develop exception technical knowledge, skills and ability
Resources
Masterclasses for tax professionals:
Tax Research Masterclass – finding the answer to tax questions, using tax legislation and guidance
Tax Advice Masterclass – how to provide high-quality tax advice that clients value
Register for a free 1-month trial for Croner-I’s tax guidance/resources
Send us a text
Hear how James Edwards has won so much tax work that he’s become too busy, so that you can win more work yourself.
Show notes: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/TTPP112
Subscribe: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/subscribe
Take control of your career progression free course: https://documents.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/freecourse
You’ll Learn
- Into from James
- (3:45) James’s beliefs around winning tax work
- (6:30) Winning work in the beginning and did James tax on too many bad fit clients initially?
- (13:45) How James has got to the point of winning so much tax work and where it comes from
- (21:00) How James Splits his time between his 3 work-winning areas/avenues and taking risks
- (33:00) An example of how James wins tax work from referrers
- (51:00) Helping clients see the value in the work you do
Resources
Masterclasses for tax professionals:
Tax Research Masterclass – finding the answer to tax questions, using tax legislation and guidance
Tax Advice Masterclass – how to provide high-quality tax advice that clients value
Register for a free 1-month trial for Croner-I’s tax guidance/resources
Send us a text
Info re Christmas podcast break, when the next episode will be, what the next two episodes will be, recommended eps from 2024 to listen to if you haven't already, and mini update from me.
Show notes: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/Xmas24
Subscribe: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/subscribe
Recommended Episodes from 2024TTPP96: Why She Failed One CTA Paper Multiple Times but Then Passed and Qualified with Amy Rylance
TTPP98: How and Why I Moved Tax Role After Being Loyal for 7 Years (Interviewed by Sam Hart)
TTPP107: Most Desired Skills and Attributes re Tax Professionals by Accounting Firms with Maisie and Sam from ProTax
TTPP109: One Year Into Being Tax Partner - What Did it Look Like? With Ele Theochari of Blick Rothenberg
Resources
Masterclasses for tax professionals:
Tax Research Masterclass – finding the answer to tax questions, using tax legislation and guidance
Tax Advice Masterclass – how to provide high-quality tax advice that clients value
Register for a free 1-month trial for Croner-I’s tax guidance/resources
Contact Me:
jack@thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jackbonehill94/
Send us a text
Better serve your clients, should they be caught up in tax fraud or a Code of Practice 9 (COP9) situation. Lucy Sauvage, our guest for this episode, explains what COP9 is, what a typical COP9 enquiry looks like, advice to prevent you messing up a COP9 enquiry, examples of common tax frauds and a story where Lucy’s client left HMRC with almost no choice but to pursue a criminal investigation into them.
Show notes: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/TTPP111
Subscribe: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/subscribe
Take control of your career progression free course: https://documents.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/freecourse
You’ll Learn
- A bit about Lucy’s career
- (4:45) A big about COP9 and what it is
- (7:30) Who instigates COP9? HMRC or taxpayer?
- (9:00) What is and isn’t tax fraud?
- (13:00) What prompts HMRC to open a COP9 enquiry?
- (16:30) What a typical COP9 enquiry looks like, the process
- (24:15) What are some of the tax frauds Lucy has seen? Examples
- (32:15) Risks associated with going down the COP9 route (to taxpayer and their tax advisor/accountant)
- (37:45) Can COP9 apply to businesses as well as individuals?
- (39:45) Any COP9 disaster stories that Lucy has
- (47:00) Typical COP9 mistakes and how tax advisors and taxpayers avoid COP9 going badly?
- (51:15) Should COP9 enquiries always be handled by specialists?
Resources
Masterclasses for tax professionals:
Tax Research Masterclass – finding the answer to tax questions, using tax legislation and guidance
Tax Advice Masterclass – how to provide high-quality tax advice that clients value
Register for a free 1-month trial for Croner-I’s tax guidance/resources
Contact Me:
jack@thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jackbonehill94/
Send us a text
Learn about HMRC’s alternative dispute resolution (ADR) process, which you can use to help solve your client’s tax disputes with HMRC – but is it worthwhile or is it a waste of time? Barbara Bento, our expert guest, explains.
Show notes: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/TTPP110
Masterclasses for tax professionals:
Subscribe: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/subscribe
Take control of your career progression free course: https://documents.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/freecourse
You’ll Learn
- A bit about Barbara
- (8:30) What is HMRC Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) and what is classed as a ‘dispute’?
- (12:15) What does the ADR process look like from start to finish?
- (20:45) Any situations when ADR can't be used?
- (26:00) Co-mediation in ADR by Barbara – what this means and the benefit
- (30:00) My (Jack Bonehill's) bad experience with HMRC & what can be done to avoid
- (37:15) What is meant by partial settlement in ADR?
- (37:45) Is ADR worthwhile & if so, when?
- (42:45) What do you need to make ADR go well, be successful? Barbara’s advice
- (47:15) Barbara's worst HMRC ADR experience
- (51:15) Is ADR remote or in person?
Resources
Masterclasses for tax professionals:
Tax Research Masterclass – finding the answer to tax questions, using tax legislation and guidance
Tax Advice Masterclass – how to provide high-quality tax advice that clients value
Register for a free 1-month trial for Croner-I’s tax guidance/resources
Contact Me:
jack@thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jackbonehill94/
Send us a text
Ele recently completed her first year of being a tax partner. Hear what her first year looked like, which will help you decide whether being a tax partner is for you AND will teach you a masterclass in how you can be successful as a tax partner.
Show notes: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/TTPP109
Masterclasses for tax professionals:
Subscribe: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/subscribe
Take control of your career progression free course: https://documents.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/freecourse
Rough timings
- Intro from Ele
- (4:45) How Ele’s first year of being a tax partner, at 29 years old, went
- (10:00) What the team looked like with Ele started, what the plan was, and what it looks like now
- (14:00) What were all the different areas/sections/categories of Ele's year 1 business plan
- (16:30) The time Ele spent in making sure the team was operationally effective & what she did
- (20:00) How the reality is different to the plan and the most significant parts of Ele’s plan
- (23:30) What Ele means when she talks about the processes that she's implemented and what she's done (VERY impressive)
- (32:30) Ele's work winning plan for her first year, how she did it (from a lead to converting), and how it went
- (40:45) Selling the value of your tax services/work - to help convert clients and win fees
- (45:45) Ele's external business development (BD) to win tax work from businesss that aren't already clients of the firm
- (47:15) How Ele's ensures she gets high value from networking events, from a BD standpoint
- (50:30) What Ele found difficult or challenging in her first year as partner at a new firm to her
- (56:00) What does the future look like for Ele? What's next?
Resources
Previous podcast ep with Ele: TTPP88: Her Spectacular Route to Tax Partner at 29 with Ele Theochari [Tax Career Success Secrets Ep 12]
Masterclasses for tax professionals:
Tax Research Masterclass – finding the answer to tax questions, using tax legislation and guidance
Tax Advice Masterclass – how to provide high-quality tax advice that clients value
Register for free 1-month trial for Croner-I’s tax guidance/resources
Send us a text
From this episode, you will learn what the different types of impose syndrome are, how they may be negatively impacting your tax career/your life, and how to deal with them. Our expert guest for this episode, Estelle Read, shares all of this with you, after many years of helping professionals that fix burnout, remove stress, and perform better.
Show notes: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/TTPP108
Tax Advice Masterclass – Details and Enrol Here
Subscribe: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/subscribe
Take control of your career progression free course: https://documents.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/freecourse
Rough timings
- A bit about Estelle
- (8:15) What Estelle means by imposter syndrome and what the 5 different types are
- (17:30) Negatives/consequences of imposter syndrome
- (19:45) Estelle’s SHINE process for dealing with imposter syndrome
- (20:45) Step 1 – S – Self-Assessment
- (26:00) Step 2 – H – Haven
- (41:00) Step 3 – I – Inner Captain
- (45:30) Step 4 – N – Non-Negotiables
- (50:00) Step 5 – E – Enable
- (58:00) Benefits of going through the SHINE process
- (1:02:00) How I intend to use what I’ve learnt so far from Estelle
Resources
Tax Advice Masterclass – Details and Enrol Here
Register for free 1-month trial for Croner-I’s tax guidance/resources
Estelle’s free resources: https://linktr.ee/EstelleAtBeee
Send us a text
Find out what the most valued skills and attributes are by employers of tax professionals, with Jack Bonehill and Sam Minor and Maisie Horrell from Pro-Tax Recruitment. After listening to this episode, you can be more strategic about what skills you work on improving, and propel your career forward more quickly – if this is what you want.
Masterclasses for tax professionals: https://www.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/masterclasses/
Show notes for this episode: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/TTPP107
Subscribe: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/subscribe
Take control of your career progression (free course): https://documents.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/freecourse
You’ll Learn
- Intro from Maisie and Sam
- (5:30) Skills most universally valued by accountancy firm employers
- (16:30) Advice for developing relationship-building skills as a tax professional – an important skills in today’s world
- (19:30) Summary of the most valued skills and attributes across all tax professionals
- (20:00) Compliance v advisory – the differences in valued skills and attributes, along with some advice for moving from a compliance role to an advisory-heavy or full advisory role
- (27:30) Specialism differences – how this impacts the valued skills and attributes
- (29:45) How grades/seniority impact the valued skills and attributes
- (30:30) Do accountancy firm employers value someone who excels in one or two areas, but lacks in others?
- (41:15) Director and partner level – most valued skills and attributes here
- (45:30) Less important skills and attributes
The most universally valued skill
Maisie and Sam both agree on the universally most valued skill by accountancy firm employers.
And guess what?
My Tax Research Masterclass and Tax Advice Masterclass feeds into this perfectly.
So if you want to use your time efficiently to develop your skills in the most valued areas, then take a look at both of these.
The next masterclass is November this year.
Send us a text
Learn 5 takeaways to provide better tax advice from my worst client experience to date. Hear the story and the lessons.
Tax Advice Masterclass: https://www.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/masterclasses/
Show notes: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/TTPP106
Subscribe: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/subscribe
Take control of your career progression free course: https://documents.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/freecourse
Rough timings
- Episode intro
- (5:15) Story about a bad experience relating to a bad tax-advisory client that I had back in 2018, which was the richest learning experience for me re improving my advisory skills
- (10:00) Five lessons/takeaways from the experience to help you become better at providing tax advice:
- (11:00) Lesson 1: Being technically correct doesn’t make the advice good – it’s just an essential part
- (12:00) Lesson 2: Your advice should be workable and what is meant by this
- (13:00) Lesson 3: Your advice should be definitive
- (14:00) Lesson 4: You should talk in the client’s language and bespoke your advice in all respects
- (15:15) Lesson 5: Longer advice does not equal more valuable advice
Resources
Tax Advice Masterclass
Other episodes to help get better at providing tax advice:
- TTPP83: Improve Your Tax Advice Skills - Stories and Tips of 2 Tax Professionals
- TTPP32: The Technical vs Practical Tax Advisor and Which One's Best with Grahame Jackson, Tax Partner
- TTPP 10: How to Write Good-Quality and Practical Tax Advice
Storyworthy: Engage, Teach, Persuade, and Change Your Life Through the Power of Storytelling by Matthew Dicks
Send us a text
In this episode, learn what in-house tax teams value and want from external tax advisors, so you can be their advisor of choice, with our guest Stephen Hodgson, in-house Head of Indirect Tax at Entain. There’s some excellent advice from Stephen too re how to break bad news to a client in a good way and re what practical tax advice actually is.
Show notes: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/TTPP105
Tax Advice Masterclass (next one Nov 24): https://www.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/masterclasses/
Subscribe: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/subscribe
Take control of your career progression free course: https://documents.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/freecourse
You’ll Learn
- The indirect tax team that Stephen runs
- (9:00) The type of external advice that Stephen’s team in particular take
- (13:00) What do in-house tax teams want from external advisors
- (15:15) What level of responsiveness/communication is needed to keep in-house tax team happy
- (20:00) Whether, even as a large corporate, they would only consider Big 4 advisors?
- (23:00) The impact of cost when it comes to choosing and working with external tax advisors
- (25:30) The factor of industry knowledge and direct knowledge of the business
- (28:30) What Stephen means by practical advice (which is valued very much)
- (34:15) What a bad external advisor looks like? Bad traits/attributes
- (36:15) How to deal with giving advice the client won’t want to hear in a way that they value
- (40:30) Who interacts with external advisors – is it only the heads of tax?
- (43:00) How to build a relationship with an in-house tax team from scratch to have the opportunity to support them
- (51:00) What Stephen would do differently when working with in-house tax teams, if he were to go back to practice
- (54:30) How an external tax advisor can be the advisor that an in-house tax team wants to work with and value?
Resources
Previous episode with Stephen: TTPP53: Moving from Practice to In-House (Industry) with Stephen Hodgson, In-House Head of Indirect Tax
Send us a Text Message.
Show notes: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/TTPPBREAK
Masterclasses for Tax Professionals (Tax Research and Tax Advice): https://www.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/masterclasses/
Subscribe: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/subscribe
Take control of your career progression free course: https://documents.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/freecourse
Timings
- Break and why
- (5:00) When will new podcast episodes be released? Future of the podcast
- (6:30) Planned episodes/pipeline upon the return from the break
- (12:00) Recommended episodes to listen to in the meantime
Me – Jack Bonehill
Email: jack@thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jackbonehill94/
Recommended eps to listen to in the meantimeTTPP98: How and Why I Moved Tax Role After Being Loyal for 7 Years (Interviewed by Sam Hart)
TTPP96: Why She Failed One CTA Paper Multiple Times but Then Passed and Qualified with Amy Rylance
TTPP88: Her Spectacular Route to Tax Partner at 29 with Ele Theochari [Tax Career Success Secrets Ep 12]
All CTA/ATT/CBE episodes
TTPP76: Why and How to Take Control of Your Tax Career with Charlie Friend
TTPP61: 3 Great Ways to Make Money Outside Your Main Tax Role (and Related Advice)
Send us a Text Message.
Rowan, our guest for this episode, is the most qualified UK tax professional. He’s got 8 qualifications, and he is currently doing his 9th. Why did he do so many qualifications, and how has it benefitted his career? By the end of the episode, you should have a good idea of the answer to the question: working in tax, should you do another professional qualification? This is a question I pondered for a while earlier in my career, and it’s a hard one to answer.
Show notes: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/TTPP104
Masterclasses for Tax Professionals (Tax Research and Tax Advice): https://www.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/masterclasses/
Subscribe: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/subscrib
Take control of your career progression free course: https://documents.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/freecourse
Timings
- Overview of Rowan’s tax career
- (8:15) Is it easier to build an audit business than tax business?
- (9:30) How did Rowan become the most qualified UK tax professional. What motivated him?
- (17:30) How have all these qualifications benefited his tax career?
- (19:00) Should you do more qualifications or spend your time elsewhere as a tax professional. How many qualifications should you do? Is there a point where doing another is not that beneficial?
- (25:00) Benefits of being a mixed tax professional
- (27:30) Essential qualification to have as a tax professional, and nice ones to have, based on specialism/area of tax worked in
- (39:00) Mini rant about lawyers’ tax knowledge (where they aren’t specifically tax)
- (47:45) Bad advice given to CTA students and a bit about using legislation
- (53:00) How Rowan got his interesting gigs like being on Times Radio, being interviewed by Vogue and speaking to MPs in parliament
Me – Jack Bonehill
Email: jack@thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jackbonehill94/
In this episode of the Tax Career Success Secrets series, we delve into Justine’s career. We talk about the common theme of enjoyment across her roles, the unintended consequence of enjoying work as much as Justine, Justine’s tips for winning tax work, and her advice to you if you want success in your own career with a wise twist.
Show notes: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/TTPP103
Masterclasses for Tax Professionals (Tax Research and Tax Advice): https://www.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/masterclasses/
Subscribe: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/subscribe
Take control of your career progression free course: https://documents.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/freecourse
You’ll Learn
- Brief overview of Justine’s career
- (13:30) What Justine learnt when she moved from EY to HMRC, and why she moved given she enjoyed HMRC so much
- (19:00) Setting up her own employment tax and HR firm and why she stopped it despite its success
- (31:00) How Justine made a success of running her own firm
- (35:00) Justine’s tips for winning work
- (44:00) A constant challenge Justine has had over her career
- (49:30) Justine’s advice for people who want to be successful in their tax career
Learn how to find the passion you can use to hugely benefit your tax career, with guest Andrea Manzini. Andrea is the person who’s started the campaign against the High Income Child Benefit Charge (HICBC). Hear his story, what he’s done, how his career has benefitted, and how you can do the same from taking advantage of one of your passions.
Show notes: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/TTPP102
Masterclasses for Tax Professionals (Tax Research and Tax Advice): https://www.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/masterclasses/
Subscribe: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/subscribe
Take control of your career progression free course: https://documents.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/freecourse
You’ll Learn
- Overview of Andrea and his tax career
- (6:30) How Andrea’s passion to change the High Income Child Benefit Charge (HICBC) started
- (18:45) How Andrea’s tax career has benefitted from his passion for the High Income Child Benefit Charge (plus a bit about my ‘tax’ passion)
- (37:30) Advice to help tax professionals find and take advantage of a passion of theirs for the benefit of their tax career
Show notes: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/TTPP101
Masterclasses for Tax Professionals (Tax Research and Tax Advice): https://www.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/masterclasses/
Subscribe: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/subscrib
Take control of your career progression free course: https://documents.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/freecourse
Rough timings
- A bit about Thomas and his tax career, and what spurred him to leave HMRC after 20 years
- (8:30) Why Thomas believes he’s been successful in his senior role, straight from HMRC
- (11:00) Commercial awareness: an area where Thomas lacked when he first left HMRC, what he means by commercial awareness and how he addressed the shortfall
- (16:15) Discussion around critical thinking and its importance
- (17:45) Thomas’s technical knowledge when he left HMRC – was it good enough?
- (23:00) What Thomas has learnt about business development (BD), winning clients and winning work since leaving HMRC
- (28:00) Key skills to do well outside HMRC
- (38:15) Thomas’s advice for someone that’s thinking about leaving HMRC
Resources
TTPP62: Making the Move from HMRC to Private Practice with David Rose – His Story and Advice
From Tax Graduate to Director: a deep dive into my (Jack Bonehill’s) tax career to date. Listen for the overview and insight
Show notes: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/TTPP100
Masterclasses for Tax Professionals (Tax Research and Tax Advice): https://www.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/masterclasses/
Subscribe: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/subscribe
Take control of your career progression free course: https://documents.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/freecourse
Timings
Finding my first tax job after university
- (8:00) Chapter 1: My first tax job (which was for an employment-taxes boutique):
- Being in the filing room for a whole week
- Setting the foundations of my tax career (ATT, Excel, but also getting tinnitus)
- Why I left
- How much I was paid
- (18:45) Chapter 2: Dains – from Tax Assistant to Tax Senior Manager (7 years)
- Sideways move – was it for more money?
- Not liking being an employment tax specialist so early on
- Becoming CTA qualified
- Feeling lost after CTA but how a business coach helped
- The start of reading books to help with my career – and why I think these made such a big impact on my career
- The three core areas to be a successful tax professional
- Becoming a people manager – my aim and delegation
- Job offers and potential other jobs
- (43:45) Chapter 3: The Tax Professionals Podcast, training and related
- How I came to start the podcast and why
- Reducing my tax job hours to 4 days a week and starting doing masterclasses for tax professionals
- Opportunities I’ve gotten from the podcast
- (55:15) Chapter 4: PKF Smith Cooper – becoming an Employment Tax Director
Resources
Episodes mentioned:
- TTPP98: How and Why I Moved Tax Role After Being Loyal for 7 Years (Interviewed by Sam Hart)
- TTPP 1: How to Undertake Effective Tax Research
- TTPP49: 5 Skills to Master Early in Your Tax Career
- TTPP76: Why and How to Take Control of Your Tax Career with Charlie Friend
VERY useful books for your tax career:
- The 7 Habits Of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey
- The 7 Habits Of Highly Effective People Workbook
- The One Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results
- Atomic Habits
Show notes: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/TTPP99
Masterclasses for Tax Professionals (Tax Research and Tax Advice): https://www.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/masterclasses/
Subscribe: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/subscribe
Take control of your career progression free course: https://documents.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/freecourse
Rough Timings
- Lesson 1: Results alone aren't necessarily enough to get you the promotion to deserve at the point in time you deserve it
- (9:00) Lesson 2: If you focus soley on results, you can make yourself miserable
- (13:00) Lesson 3: Delegation Lessons (3 tips)
- (17:30) Lesson 4: Current clients are a great place to start when wanting to win new tax work
- (22:45) Lesson 5: People buy from people, not firms
- (26:00) Summary
Resources
Episodes mentioned:
- TTPP98: How and Why I Moved Tax Role After Being Loyal for 7 Years (Interviewed by Sam Hart)
- TTPP40: Key Lessons Learnt from Tax Manager to Senior Manager
This episode is an insight into my thinking and decision to leave Dains after 7 years and join PKF Smith Cooper as Employment Tax Director.
Show notes: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/TTPP98
Masterclasses for Tax Professionals (Tax Research and Tax Advice): https://www.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/masterclasses/
Subscribe: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/subscribe
Take control of your career progression free course: https://documents.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/freecourse
You’ll Learn
- Overview of my tax career and a bit about me
- (7:00) Why I decided to leave Dains after 7 years and how I found my new role
- (12:30) Key reason for me deciding to join PKF Smith Cooper
- (16:00) The interview process I went through, how I prepared, and related advice
- (19:15) Did I negotiate my package and did I accept straight away?
- (23:00) The worst part about leaving Dains
- (25:45) What I’m looking forward to in my new role, my career’s future, and what I’m worried about
- (31:30) Deeper dive in some areas and additional info
Resources
Masterclasses for Tax Professionals (Tax Research and Tax Advice): https://www.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/masterclasses/
Take control of your career progression free course: https://documents.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/freecourse
Show notes: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/TTPP97
Masterclasses for Tax Professionals (Tax Research and Tax Advice): https://www.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/masterclasses/
Subscribe: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/subscribe
Take control of your career progression free course: https://documents.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/freecourse
You’ll Learn
- Overview of Stevi and his career
- (16:30) The pressures on in-house tax teams & how technology can help
- (30:30) Can you have one piece of tax tech that deals with all taxes and does everything?
- (34:15) Why is using OneDrive/Sharepoint and Excel alone not good enough in today’s world for in-house tax functions?
- (42:30) Where should in-house tax teams start when improving their use of tax
- (47:15) How to identify the right tax-tech software you need once you’ve identified the problem/areas of improvement
- (50:30) How external advisors can support in-house tax teams to use tax tech to improve the team?
- (55:00) Should small businesses invest in tax tech or is it limited to large multinationals currently?
ResourcesOther tax tech episodes:
- TTPP81: Tax Technology Director Shares What It’s Like to Work in Tax Tech with Alexander Kobakhidze [Tax Role Insights, Episode 3]
- TTPP90: Improve Your Tax Research and Save Hours of Time with AI with Nick Stobbs from Tax on Demand
Show notes: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/TTPP96
Subscribe: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/subscribe
Take control of your career progression free course: https://documents.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/freecourse
You’ll Learn
- A bit about Amy and her tax career
- (5:45) Overview of Amy’s ATT and CTA journey, including what happened when she sat her first CTA paper
- (12:00) Amy’s key advice for passing the CTA Application and Professional Skills (APS) paper
- (16:30) With hindsight, how would Amy have prepared differently for the CTA Human Capital Advanced Technical Paper (HC AT)
- (19:15) How Amy kept motivated and determined to pass after her knockbacks and why she almost gave up
- (25:00) The evolution of her mindset – to get the right one to pass
- (28:00) What Amy did differently, the time that she passed – how she passed and studied learnt the whole syllabus with a deep understanding of the topics
Resources
Tax flashcards/squares – email Jack (jack@thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com) or Nitin (cta@bpp.com) for samples.
FREE – CTA Study Phase Checklist so you can make sure you ‘complete’ the study phase before revision, going into revision as prepared as you can
FREE – ATT/CTA revision folder guide, which was made when the exams became open book. This is somewhat outdated now, but there is still useful information in there
FREE – 8 CTA/ATT revision tips summary, which does exactly what it says on the tin
Other exam-support related podcast episodes: https://www.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/category/podcast/att-cta/
Show notes: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/TTPP95
Subscribe: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/subscribe
Take control of your career progression free course: https://documents.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/freecourse
In this episode, we are joined by Devereux chambers – specifically Max Schofield (a tax barrister), Glenn Billenness (Director of Clerking and Business Development) and Aparna Nathan KC (a tax barrister).
You’ll Learn
- (6:15) What does instructing mean when it comes to tax barristers and who can instruct one?
- (13:00) What does litigation mean?
- (16:30) What can you instruct a tax barrister to do (i.e. how can they help you and your clients)?
- (20:30) What exactly are barrister opinions for tax and are they helpful?
- (27:15) At what point/when should a tax barrister be instructed?
- (36:30) What’s the difference between a KC and non-KC barrister?
- (41:45) How do fees work?
Resources
Related eps:
- TTPP51: Criminal HMRC Tax Investigations & Mistakes to Avoid with Alice Kemp, Barrister and Host of RCP Taxing Matters Podcast
- TTPP59: What It’s Like to be a Tax Barrister with Harriet Brown (and How to Become One) [Tax Role Insights, Ep 1]
Tax Research Masterclass (link to business case in the full details)
Show notes: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/TTPP94
Subscribe: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/subscribe
Take control of your career progression free course: https://documents.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/freecourse
You’ll Learn
- An overview of Angela’s career
- (6:45) Why Angela decided to move to ETC Tax, her initial remit, and what ETC Tax looked like at this time
- (14:00) Angela’s current remit as Managing Director – what she does and what she is responsible for
- (24:15) How much Angela gets involved in the doing of tax work
- (27:00) The pros and challenges of being Managing Director of a small tax business
- (36:45) Whether Angela finds anything stressful about her role
- (39:45) What drives Angela to continue
Resources
Tax Advice Masterclass
TTPP93: Ex-CIOT Examiner Shares Insight into the Role and How to Become One with Sam Hart
Show notes: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/TTPP93
Subscribe: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/subscribe
Tax Advice Masterclass
Take control of your career progression free course: https://documents.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/freecourse
You’ll Learn
- About Sam and her career
- (11:15) Starting to talk about the CIOT examiner role, and how examiners are ‘engaged’
- (13:45) The exam writing process
- (18:45) Why Sam decided to become a CIOT/CTA examiner
- 21:30 Is there a better way to assess tax students instead of exams?
- (25:45) Marking exams, managing time here, how pay works for marking, and whether you need to know the full syllabus to be an examiner (how wide does your technical knowledge need to be)
- (29:00) Sam’s advice if you want to become a CIOT examiner and what Sam liked about being an examiner
- (35:00) How your technical tax competence, knowledge and skill is assessed
Resources
Tax Advice Masterclass
Show notes: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/TTPP92
Subscribe: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/subscribe
Tax Advice Masterclass
Take control of your career progression free course: https://documents.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/freecourse
You’ll Learn
- A bit about Omar Aswat CTA and his journey in tax so far
- (11:30) Challenges Omar’s had from having his own firm
- (16:00) Big pros from having his own tax firm and how Omar went from being employed to running his own firm
- (26:00) The first big advisory projects that Omar won
- (35:00) How Omar was able to develop his advisory skills
- (40:30) Spotting opportunities to help save tax or support clients to benefit them and win you work
Resources
Tax Advice Masterclass
Take control of your career progression free course: https://documents.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/freecourse
Show notes: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/TTPP91
Subscribe: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/subscribe
Tax Advice Masterclass
Take control of your career progression free course: https://documents.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/freecourse
You’ll Learn
- A bit about Reza and his fist business idea
- (15:30) What are the four pillars of running a successful accountancy and/or tax firm?
- (19:15) The ‘pricing’ pillar – how to price based on value and not time spent, increasing profitability with less effort
- (42:00) Giving different pricing options with tax/accountancy work
- (57:00) A bit about the ‘positioning’ pillar
Resources
Tax Advice Masterclass
Free book link (The Four Pillars): Https://go.rezahooda.com/order-348362211681564311623
Podcast (The Profitable Accountant Podcast): https://www.rezahooda.com/podcasts/the-profitable-accountant-podcast
Show notes: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/TTPP90
Tax Research Masterclass (link to business case in the full details)
Subscribe: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/subscribe
Take control of your career progression free course: https://documents.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/freecourse
Rough timings
- About Nick and his involvement in the tax world
- (9:15) Information about Co-pilot – the ChatGBT equivalent but for HMRC manuals – including what it is and how it works
- (12:15) What is a ‘large language model’ and what is ‘RAG’ (retrieval augmented generation)?
- (19:00) How does Co-pilot benefit tax advisors?
- (23:00) Is AI good enough to find the answer to complex tax queries?
- (25:00) A bit about use cases of Co-pilot and tech in tax
- (29:15) Could AI dilute tax specialisms or reduce the amount of jobs?
- (38:00) How Co-pilot is different to the online digital resources like Croner’s Navigate
Resources
Tax Research Masterclass (link to business case in the full details)
Free access to the current version of Co-pilot
Show notes: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/TTPP89
Subscribe: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/subscribe
Take control of your career progression free course: https://documents.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/freecourse
Rough timings
- Croner-I Navigate Tax (digital resource), including details about the available resources and a bit about how I use it to do tax research
- (12:15) Tolley Library and Guidance (digital resource), including details about the available resources and how you can use it
- (17:30) Westlaw (for case law), including the feature that has saved me hours of time
- (21:15) Tolley’s Tax books
- (23:30) Claritax books
- (25:00) Bloomsbury books, including a bit about how to find what you need from a book
- (28:15) Summary
Resources
Tax Research Masterclass (link to business case in the full details)
Croner-I Navigate 7-Day Free Trial
Message me to get the 7-day free trial:
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jackbonehill94/
- Email: jack@thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com
Link to Croner-I Navigate: https://library.croneri.co.uk/
Link to gain free access to Croner-I Navigate Lite: https://documents.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/croner-i
Other tax-research episodes:
- TTPP80: Best Free Resources to Find Tax Answers and Use When Undertaking Tax Research
- TTPP60: Improving Your Tax Research Skills – Stories and Tips of 3 Tax Professionals
- TTPP55: How to Research a Tax Technical Query
- TTPP42: Master Using HMRC Manuals for Tax Research
- TTPP37: Master Using Tax Legislation (and the Benefits this Brings)
- TTPP 1: How to Undertake Effective Tax Research
Show notes: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/TTPP88
Tax Research Masterclass
Subscribe: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/subscribe
Take control of your career progression free course: https://documents.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/freecourse
Rough timings
- Overview of Ele’s unconventional tax career
- (8:30) Why Ele decided to join a start-up from Big 4 and how working in a start-up has given her a career advantage
- (14:45) People telling her she was making career-ending moves
- (20:00) Why she decided to move back to a bigger firm
- (23:00) Ele being shortlisted two times for Tolley’s Taxation’s Rising Star award
- (25:30) Ele’s secret to achieving what she has before turning 30
- (33:30) Challenges Ele has faced and how she overcame them
- (43:00) What is a business case and what goes in one? For those interested in becoming director or partner
- (51:00) Ele’s usual working hours and whether she’s had to work herself to the bone to get to where she is now
- (53:00) Ele’s advice to her younger self and to you and other people interested in becoming a tax partner as quickly as possible
Resources
Tax Research Masterclass (link to business case in the full details)
TTPP87: Becoming a Tax Partner Made Easy with These 12 Areas with Heather Townsend
Show notes: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/TTPP87
Subscribe: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/subscribe
Take control of your career progression free course: https://documents.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/freecourse
Tax Research Masterclass
You’ll Learn
- A bit about Heather and how she’s got to where she is now
- (11:00) Overview of the 12 areas for becoming a tax partner
- (24:15) The first 5 areas (fundamentals) in detail
- (39:00) The next 3 (winning work) in a bit more detail
- (45:15) The final 4 (business and personal case) in a bit more detail
Resources
Tax Research Masterclass
Heather’s books:
- Poised for Partnership: How to successfully move from senior associate and senior manager to partner by building a cast-iron personal and business case for partnership
- The Go-To Expert: How to Grow Your Reputation, Differentiate Yourself From the Competition and Win New Business
- How to Make Partner and Still Have a Life: The Smart Way to Get to and Stay at the Top
Sam Mitha, CBE, ex-HMRC Deputy Director of Central Policy
Show notes: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/TTPP86
Subscribe: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/subscribe
Take control of your career progression free course: https://documents.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/freecourse
Tax Research Masterclass
You’ll Learn
- A bit about Sam and his HMRC career in tax policy
- (6:15) What is tax policy?
- (9:30) How guidance fits into the tax-policy process
- (14:15) Why it’s beneficial for us as tax professionals to understand how policy is made
- (23:15) The tax policy process – what’s involved
- (30:00) The tax-legislation making process
- (50:15) The extent of the Chancellor’s involvement in tax policy
- (1:07:15) How we can get involved in tax policy for the benefit of our career
Resources
Tax Research Masterclass
Sam’s articles:
- Tax and Politics: Taxjournal.com (1 June 2021)
- U.K. COVID-19 Diary: Policy and Impacts, National Tax Journal, 2020, vol. 73, issue 3, 847-878
- A heretical view of tax simplification: Taxjournal.com:15 June 2017)
Show notes: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/TTPP85
Subscribe: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/subscribe
Take control of your career progression free course: https://documents.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/freecourse
Content/Timings
- What content you could be posting on LinkedIn
- (10:45) The importance of the first few sentences of your written posts
- (12:45) How you can improve your profile so that you get more views and convey your message clearly
- (15:30) Why you should be commenting on other people’s posts
- (20:45) How often should you be posting, what should you be posting about, and how to make your posts more interesting
- (35:00) Outside of posting and commenting, what else should
- (42:15) Creator mode and whether you should be using it
- (45:30) A bit about LinkedIn pods and why you should avoid them
- 48:00) How to get more engagement with your posts
Resources
Masterclasses for tax professionals:
- Tax Research Masterclass
- Tax Advice Masterclass
Show notes: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/TTPP84
Subscribe: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/subscribe
Take control of your career progression free course: https://documents.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/freecourse
You’ll Learn
- An overview of Pete and his tax career
- (19:45) Pete’s remit in nurturing tax staff and where he is focusing his efforts
- (28:15) How Pete is developing his staff – the actions he is taking – the importance of having your own style, and Pete’s tips around explaining tax rules to others in a ways that’s easy to understand
- (62:15) What the individual’s/trainee’s responsibility is when they are being nurtured/developed – what they should be doing
- (69:30) Discussion around whether a member of staff can be a lost cause and it’s not possible to help them
- (75:00) Methods to help train and nurture your tax staff
Resources
Masterclasses for Tax Professionals
Show notes: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/TTPP83
Tax Advice Masterclass
Subscribe: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/subscribe
Take control of your career progression free course: https://documents.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/freecourse
You’ll Learn
Chrissie:
- (6:15) How Chrissie started getting involved in tax advice and how she’s involved now
- (8:15) What she finds most difficult about providing advice and changes from when she started providing tax advice to now
- (13:45) What made Chrissie want to get better at providing advice
- (18:15) What Chrissie has done to get better at providing advice
- (27:00) Tips from Chrissie to help you get better at providing advice
Brandon:
- (35:45) How he started getting involved in tax advice and how she’s involved now
- (38:00) What he finds most difficult about providing advice
- (40:30) Why Brandon wanted to get better
Resources
Tax Advice Masterclass
Show notes: https://www.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/ttpp82
Subscribe: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/subscribe
Take control of your career progression free course: https://documents.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/freecourse
You’ll Learn
- Nitin’s story for becoming the blunt, to-the-point tax tutor he is and also why we are focusing on the reason people fail CTA exams in this episode
- (6:45) Mistakes students make in the ‘preparation’ stage
- (14:00) Mistakes people make during the classroom sessions (whether in person or remote), including how early you should start studying
- (23:00) Mistakes people make post classroom and after studying the material, including my unpopular but important opinion
- (29:00) Mistakes students make in the revision phase
- (38:30) A bit about mentality and attitude
- (41:00) Mistakes when it comes to past question practice and whether or not to use legislation
ResourcesTax flashcards/squares – email Jack (jack@thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com) or Nitin (cta@bpp.com) for samples.
FREE – CTA Study Phase Checklist so you can make sure you ‘complete’ the study phase before revision, going into revision as prepared as you can
FREE – ATT/CTA revision folder guide, which was made when the exams became open book. This is somewhat outdated now, but there is still useful information in there
FREE – 8 CTA/ATT revision tips summary, which does exactly what it says on the tin
Other exam-support related podcast episodes (including CBEs): https://www.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/category/podcast/att-cta/
Webinars on CTA exams: https://www.taxrecruitment.co.uk/webinars/
Alexander used to be Head of Tax Technology at Uber (pretty cool!) and is now Tax Technology Director at Fonoa
Show notes: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/TTPP81
Subscribe: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/subscribe
Take control of your career progression free course: https://documents.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/freecourse
You’ll Learn
- Introduction to Alexander and a brief overview of his career
- (18:30) Biggest misconceptions about working in tax tech and crossing the jargon barrier between tax and tech professionals
- (25:00) What tax technology roles entail, from Alex’s roles, and a discussion around the roles
- (36:30) Could a tax professional become a tax code and who becomes good tax tech people?
- (45:00) How to get a taste for tax tech and what type of businesses need tax tech specialists?
- (47:30) Work-life balance for tax tech roles and a bit about salaries
- (54:55) Advice to those who want to move into tax tech
Resources
Tax Role Insights Episodes
Masterclasses for Tax Professionals
Show notes: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/TTPP80
Subscribe: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/subscribe
Take control of your career progression free course: https://documents.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/freecourse
You’ll Learn
- Tips to better use free tax resources
- (6:45) Best free tax legislation resources
- (10:45) Best free HMRC guidance resources
- (15:30) Best free tax-case-law resources
- (17:45) Other good free tax guidance
- Summary
Resources
Tax Research Masterclass
Other tax-research podcast episodes:
- TTPP60: Improving Your Tax Research Skills - Stories and Tips of 3 Tax Professionals
- TTPP55: How to Research a Tax Technical Query
- TTPP42: Master Using HMRC Manuals for Tax Research
- TTPP37: Master Using Tax Legislation (and the Benefits this Brings)
- TTPP 1: How to Undertake Effective Tax Research
Tax Research - How to Use Google Operators to Find Tax Information More Easily
Show notes: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/TTPP79
Subscribe: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/subscribe
Take control of your career progression free course: https://documents.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/freecourse
You’ll Learn
- An overview of Laura’s career
- (13:30) An insight into Laura’s role as a tax partner at Azets
- (18:15) How involved she gets in the day-to-day tax work
- (21:15) Her remit and what is expected of her
- (28:00) Whether as tax partner, she has unlimited control
- (31:00) Some information around tax-partner salaries
- (37:00) What a normal week looks like for Laura
- (38:30) Work life balance as a tax partner and whether it’s possible to work ‘normal’ hours
- (45:00) Laura’s advice if you want to become a tax partner
Resources
Tax Role Insights Episodes
Masterclasses for Tax Professionals
Show notes: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/TTPP78
Subscribe: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/subscribe
Take control of your career progression free course: https://documents.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/freecourse
You’ll Learn
- Key reasons why students fail the APS exam
- (18:00) How you should deal with gaining the CTA awareness knowledge you need (particularly for those of you on the ATT/CTA joint pathway)
- (21:00) Advice if you’re thinking to sit an APS paper and AT paper at the same time
- (26:55) How the marking works (the criteria to pass) and how to demonstrate the desired skill level in each area in the APS paper
- (32:00) How to prepare to pass the APS paper (including application of knowledge and revision)
- (43:15) What the pre-seen is and how you should use this
- (49:30) The importance of planning and how to plan
- (54:30) Final advice from Nitin for passing this exam
Resources
Tax flashcards/squares – email Jack (jack@thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com) or Nitin (cta@bpp.com) for samples.
FREE – CTA Study Phase Checklist so you can make sure you ‘complete’ the study phase before revision, going into revision as prepared as you can
FREE – ATT/CTA revision folder guide, which was made when the exams became open book. This is somewhat outdated now, but there is still useful information in there
FREE – 8 CTA/ATT revision tips summary, which does exactly what it says on the tin
Other exam-support related podcast episodes: https://www.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/category/podcast/att-cta/
Show notes: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/TTPP77
Subscribe: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/subscribe
Take control of your career progression free course: https://documents.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/freecourse
You’ll Learn
- Overview of Ben’s career and what a portfolio finance director is
- (17:15) Why Ben has limited his services, not providing the full range of accountancy services, and why it’s good to restrict your tax services
- (20:00) How to get prospects or contacts to know how you can help them so they know to come to you or when to introduce you to a contact, and how to get people to see value in your advice
- (36:30) How to manage the situation where a client or prospect asks you to do something outside of your specialism or the services you are willing to provide and not damage your relationship with them
- (44:00) A discussion around referring and how Ben operates in this space – to introduce and be introduced – with it reflecting well on him in both cases
Resources
Masterclasses, including:
- Tax Advice Masterclass
- Tax Research Masterclass
TTPP23: The Benefits of Having Your Own Tax Specialism/Niche (& Tips to Choose Yours!) with Sofia Thomas
Show notes: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/TTPP76
Subscribe: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/subscribe
Take control of your career progression free course: https://documents.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/freecourse
You’ll Learn
- Overview of Charlie’s tax career (she started as an apprentice, without going to uni)
- (10:00) Whether she was held back for being young, despite being CTA qualified at 21
- (11:45) Why you should take control of your tax career
- (17:30) How to take control of your tax career and figuring out what you want to do with your career
- (31:00) How she became a Tax Manager at PwC at 24 (which includes some very good advice)
- (40:00) How to overcome some difficulties/challenges you may face when trying to progress, become promoted, and taking control of your career
- (52:00) How to get the support you need
Resources
TTPP 3: How to Obtain Good Quality Feedback (and Why You Should Ask for More!)
TTPP46: 8 Tips on Providing Feedback to Grow and Develop Staff
Show notes: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/TTPP75
Subscribe: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/subscribe
Take control of your career progression free course: https://documents.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/freecourse
You’ll Learn
- 8 tips to avoid working unnecessary long hours, and get the work-life balance you want, as a tax professional
- Tip 1: Be upfront and honest whether a deadline is achievable
- (10:15) Tip 2: Make your boundaries clear to your colleagues
- (14:15) Tip 3: Purge all pointless, non-essential, and non-important tasks
- (21:15) Tip 4: Schedule time for the important tasks – particularly the non-essential
- (24:45) Tip 5: Think long term and short term
- (30:15) Tip 6: Aim to be productive and effective when doing work
- (35:00) Tip 7: Delegation to and support from colleagues
- (37:45) Tip 8: Look for an employer where the hours you want to work are possible
Resources
Masterclasses for tax people – Tax Research Masterclass and Tax Advice Masterclass
TTPP 4: How to be a Better Delegator to Progress your Career with Mike Clayton
TTPP34: Successfully Delegate Tax Work, Particularly to Less-Experienced & Junior Staff
7 Habits of Highly Effective People – book
The One Thing – book
Show notes: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/TTPP74
Subscribe: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/subscribe
Take control of your career progression free course: https://documents.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/freecourse
You’ll Learn
- Salman introduction and overview of tax career
- (9:00) What is a role in tax risk?
- (17:30) What is role in tax-dispute resolution
- (22:15) What does delegation and team structure look like in tax risk and tax-dispute resolution?
- (31:00) What does a normal week look like for Salman?
- (38:00) What type of business (e.g. accountancy firms, in-house, etc) take on people with Salman’s specialism, and could he become a head of tax?
- (42:00) What’s work-life balance like working in this area?
- (45:30) Routes into tax-dispute resolution and tax risk – do you need to have worked in HMRC?
- (57:00) Advice for people wanting to specialise in Salman’s area
Resources
TTPP59: What It’s Like to be a Tax Barrister with Harriet Brown (and How to Become One) [Tax Role Insights, Ep 1]
Tax Advice Masterclass – Pre-order
Tax Advice Masterclass – Non-Pre-order
All Masterclasses
Show notes: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/TTPP73
Subscribe: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/subscribe
Register interest for my masterclasses for tax professionals: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/trainingfortaxprofessionals
You’ll Learn
- Overview of Glyn’s career
- (13:00) Why Gyn decided to become a tax writer, rather than continue with in-house Head of Tax Roles, including Glyn’s insight into the pressures of in-house tax roles
- (23:15) How, as an external tax advisor, you can best work with in-house professionals
- (28:00) How Glyn’s roles expanded into pensions and what the roles entailed
- (35:00) How Glyn’s tax career motivators have changed over time
- (41:45) The richest learning experience from Glyn’s career (and it wasn’t all roses)
- (49:30) Standout piece of tax-career advice Glyn received and advice he would give to his younger self
- (56:00) How Glyn wants to help tax professionals through his role at Croner-I
Resources
Sign up to Croner-I’s Tax Weekly newsletter for free: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/croner-i. As a listener, you will also get a discount from paid products if you mention you listen to the podcast
Register interest for my masterclasses for tax professionals: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/trainingfortaxprofessionals
Message me if you’d like to help shape the Tax Advice Masterclass (jack@thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com) – I’m looking for a few people
Show notes: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/TTPP72
Subscribe: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/subscribe
Masterclasses for Tax Professionals:
https://www.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/masterclasses/
You’ll Learn
- Benefits of training and supporting your tax staff
-
(6:15) Ways that you can train and support your tax staff, including:
- (6:15) Involving staff in tax work where they can learn and develop
- (12:30) Shadowing
- (14:45) Use of training courses
- (17:00) The mindset of the person being trained is key
- (20:45) Removing barriers
- (23:15) Personal development plans in tax
Resources
Delegation episodes:
- TTPP 4: How to be a Better Delegator to Progress your Career with Mike Clayton
- TTPP34: Successfully Delegate Tax Work (Particularly to Less-Experienced & Junior Staff)
Feedback episodes:
- TTPP46: 8 Tips on Providing Feedback to Grow and Develop Staff
- TTPP 3: How to Obtain Good Quality Feedback (and Why You Should Ask for More!)
Show notes: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/TTPP71
Subscribe: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/subscribe
Masterclasses for Tax Professionals
You’ll Learn
- (2:30) What was going through Tony’s mind when he decided to try a role outside of tax and why he felt like tax wasn’t for him
- (15:00) The value Tony got from his time working in tax
- (17:15) The worries and concerns Tony had about moving out of tax, and his advice in relation to this and what you should do before moving out of tax
- (29:00) What Tony did to not move for less salary (and in fact, moved for more)
- (33:00) Non-tax roles that could be a good fit for people with tax experience
- (36:30) A powerful piece of advice to get to the role you ultimately want
- (41:45) The importance of your hook and why you should find it
- (44:30) About taking ownership of your career, and the benefits this brings
- (48:00) Tony’s advice for people considering moving out of tax
Resources
Masterclasses for Tax Professionals
Show notes: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/TTPP70
Subscribe: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/subscribe
Free resources
Tax flashcards/squares – email Jack (jack@thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com) or Nitin (cta@bpp.com) for samples.
FREE – CTA Study Phase Checklist so you can make sure you ‘complete’ the study phase before revision, going into revision as prepared as you can
FREE – ATT/CTA revision folder guide, which was made when the exams became open book. This is somewhat outdated now, but there is still useful information in there
FREE – 8 CTA/ATT revision tips summary, which does exactly what it says on the tin
Other exam-support related podcast episodes: https://www.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/category/podcast/att-cta/
You’ll Learn
- What you should do just before you should start revising
- (4:45) How to consolidate your tax knowledge
- (7:30) When you should move out of the study phase, into the revision phase with your CTA exams
- (8:30) What the difference is between the study and revision phases, and what you should do in the revision phase
- (12:45) How to make memorising material easier, along with tips
- (20:00) Efficient uses of time when revising
- (22:15) How to reduce the amount of information you need to remember
- (25:00) Advice and tips around using tax legislation
- (31:30) Advice around brushing up on exam technique and how to get the most value out of question practice
- (46:00) When you should have completed revision by
- (49:00) Rules around what you can and can’t take into the exam, and Nitin’s final advice
Show notes: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/TTPP69
Subscribe: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/subscribe
Take control of your career progression free course: https://documents.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/freecourse
You’ll Learn
- Overview of Ray’s tax career
- (7:00) What Ray likes about writing and publishing, and an insight into Claritax
- (12:00) Ray’s biggest career achievement
- (14:15) How Ray’s dealt with having numerous tax roles at once, and his advice
- (20:30) How Ray’s career motivators changed through his career
- (23:15) The lead up to starting Claritax Books, the one thing that meant it may not have happened, and the plan B if it didn’t work
- (27:00) Biggest challenge in getting Claritax Books to where it is today
- (32:15) Advise for people considering making bold career decisions (particularly starting own business)
- (39:00) Career advice that stood out to Ray, and his tips to help you progress, develop and improve your tax career
Resources
Claritax Books: https://www.claritaxbooks.com/
Claritax News (free tax-news source): https://claritaxnews.com/
Ray’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ray-chidell-ab75022/
Show notes: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/TTPP68
Subscribe: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/subscribe
Take control of your career progression free course: https://documents.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/freecourse
You’ll Learn
- (6:00) Circumstances where you should stick with your current tax job and indicators that you should move
- (14:00) Understanding your career drivers – the importance of them and how they feed into your job hunt
- (19:30) How to figure out what the right tax job is for you
- (23:15) Should you use a tax recruiter? How they can help, plus pros (including getting a better package/more pay) and cons of using one
- (34:00) Are CVs necessary when moving tax roles? And how to make an effective CV
- (44:30) Interview tips
- (49:15) What to do at the point your receive an offer? Accepting or rejecting
Resources
My Career in Tax webinars
James’ Tax CPD Webinars
TTPP43: Should you be Considering a Tax Job/Career Move? (with James Howell)
Show notes: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/TTPP67
Subscribe: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/subscribe
MBL Webinar: MSC Rules from Start to Finish - A Risk Management Guide for Tax Advisors & Accountants by Jack Bonehill
You’ll Learn
- 9 tips to help you deliver impactful, memorable, and engaging tax webinars
- Tip 1: Tell people what is coming up and what they can expect to learn
- (5:30) Tip 2: Use the notes section within PowerPoint to add prompts/scripts
- (9:00) Tip 3: Make sure your slides are simple & visual
- (13:15) Tip 4: Break down complicated information into bitesize chunks – almost always needed when talking about tax rules or legislation!
- (16:15) Tip 5: Ask polls/questions to make the webinar interactive and keep attendees engaged
- (18:30) Tip 6: Tell relevant real stories
- (23:30) Tip 7: Do live demos through sharing your screen
- (25:15) Tip 8: Set exercises to do during the webinar
- (26:30) Tip 9: Tailor your language and presentation
Resources
MBL Webinar: MSC Rules from Start to Finish - A Risk Management Guide for Tax Advisors & Accountants by Jack Bonehill
Tax Research Masterclass
Storyworthy by Matthew Dicks: Engagement, Teach, Persuade and Change Your Life through the Power of Storytelling (book)
Show notes: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/TTPP66
Subscribe: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/subscribe
CTA Study Checklist – FREE DOWNLOAD – to help students prepare properly and pass the CTA exams: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/studychecklist
You’ll Learn
- About Tasneem’s career (an overview)
- (8:30) Times in Tasneem’s life that changed her career trajectory and inspired her to achieve what she has, despite the cards being stacked against her
- (13:00) How Tasneem proved she should be taken seriously and what this meant for her tax career
- (15:45) A discussion on your personal brand
- (19:00) How having kids has helped her achieve more in her career
- (21:45) How Tasneem dealt with having imposter syndrome
- (24:15) How Tasneem figured out where she wanted to take her career and helped her create her vision
- (28:15) Tasneem’s methods for improving and developing herself for her career
- (32:00) Tasneem’s philosophy on leadership (she’s a great tax leader)
- (37:00) Advice she would give her younger self, knowing what she knows now, and her advice to help you to progress, develop and improve your tax career
Resources
Other Tax Career Success Secrets episodes, including ones with Heather Self and Kate Rothwell
CTA study checklist FREE DOWNLOAD – to help students prepare properly to pass the exams
Show notes: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/TTPP65
Subscribe: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/subscribe
Tax Research Masterclass:
https://www.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/masterclasses/
You’ll learn
- 5 Reasons why you should use case law more as a tax professional
- Reason 1: It helps you improve your client’s position during HMRC enquiries
- (7:45) Reason 2: It enables you to provide better tax support to clients
- (13:30) Reason 3: It’s an excellent way to improve your tax technical skills and ability
- (19:30) Reason 4: It’s a relatable and practical way to increase your tax knowledge
- (22:00) Reason 5: It takes your tax research to the next level
Resources & related episodes
Tax Research Masterclass
TTPP60: Improving Your Tax Research Skills – Stories and Tips of 3 Tax Professionals
TTPP42: Master Using HMRC Manuals for Tax Research
TTPP37: Master Using Tax Legislation (and the Benefits this Brings)
TTPP 1: How to Undertake Effective Tax Research
Show notes: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/TTPP64
Subscribe: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/subscribe
Take control of your career progression free course: https://documents.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/freecourse
You’ll Learn
- 3 important lessons in relation to winning tax work (usually referred to as business development), from my experiences
- (Start) Lesson 1: Is it better to do loads of campaigns/ways to win tax work or is less more?
- (10:00) Lesson 2: The importance of raising awareness of how you can help through your tax services, and helping clients see that the best thing for them is to engage your support
- (15:15) Lesson 3: Why regular contact with people and building relationships is paramount for winning tax work
- (20:15) Summary
Resources & Related Episodes
My email: jack@thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com
My LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jackbonehill94/
TTPP 11: How to Increase Your Chances of Winning/Converting Tax Work with Martyn Sloman (Without Being Pushy!!)
TTPP57: Strategies to Win More Tax Work with Mark Lee
Show notes: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/TTPP63
Study Phase Checklist – download here: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/studychecklist
Tax flashcards/squares – email Jack (jack@thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com) or Nitin (cta@bpp.com) for samples
Subscribe: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/subscribe
You’ll Learn
- How the exams will be different in May 2023
- (6:00) When you should start studying
- (11:00) The distinction between the study phase and the revision phase
- (13:00) How I approached studying for the closed book exams to achieve 1st time passes each time,
- (20:15) Nit’s advice to help with memorisation for this exam
- (23:00) Nit’s rant for why people fail these exams in his experience
- (24:30) Advice if you are studying via distance learning
- (28:00) Advice re sitting numerous exams in a sitting
- (33:45) Nitin’s important advice for the study phase
- (37:15) The cut off point for moving from study phase into the revision phase
- (39.30) Whether/how to use the legislation for May 2023 exams (further details here https://www.tax.org.uk/taxlegislation2023)
- (44:00) Final tips
Resources
Tax flashcards/squares – email Jack (jack@thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com) or Nitin (cta@bpp.com) for samples.
Study Phase Checklist – download here: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/studychecklist
Other exam-support related podcast episodes: https://www.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/category/podcast/att-cta/
Online Tax Legislation for 2023 CTA Exams: https://www.tax.org.uk/taxlegislation2023
Show notes: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/TTPP62
Subscribe: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/subscribe
Take control of your career progression free course: https://documents.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/freecourse
You’ll Learn
- A bit about David’s background and where he’s at now
- (5:30) Why he started thinking about moving, and the action David took
- (11:45) What made David go down the route of joining a smaller firm and take the job he did as his first tax role outside HMRC
- (14:30) The fears he had around making the move and how he overcame them
- (19:30) Advice around dealing with the perception that hiring someone from HMRC is a risk, and his advice for reassuring potential employers
- (26:00) David’s advice for people considering moving from HMRC to private practice
- (38:30) If David could turn back the clock, would he start his tax career in HMRC again?
Resources
Tax Research Masterclass: http://www.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/masterclasses/
TTPP60: Real Stories of 3 People re Developing their Tax Research Skills (with Davinder Talwar, Autumn Murphy and Monica Georgala)
Show notes: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/TTPP61
Subscribe: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/subscribe
Tax Research Masterclass: http://www.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/masterclasses/
You’ll Learn
- About paid tax writing (including common opportunities, information re what you can expect to be paid, benefits, and ways to land a paid-writing opportunity)
- (13:00) About paid tax webinars, training and speaking (including the common opportunities, information re what you can expect to be paid, and benefits)
- (20:40) Providing tax services outside of, but alongside, your main role (including
- (24:30) Related advice from my experiences and what I’ve heard (including agreeing it is ok to do a side hustle with your employer, ways to manage and use your time effectively, and how to increase chances of getting opportunities)
Episodes mentioned in this episode
TTPP60: Real Stories of 3 People re Developing their Tax Research Skills (with Davinder Talwar, Autumn Murphy and Monica Georgala)
TTPP57: Strategies to Win More Tax Work with Mark Lee
TTPP 11: How to Increase Your Chances of Winning/Converting Tax Work with Martyn Sloman (Without Being Pushy!!)
Show notes: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/TTPP60
Tax Research Masterclass: Details and enrol: http://www.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/masterclasses/
Subscribe: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/subscribe
You’ll Learn
- Each guests’ experiences of tax research
- Challenges they’ve faced
- Why you should develop your tax-research skills
- How the guests have gone about getting better
- Their tips to help you get better at tax research
Davinder is first in the episode.
Autumn is second (at roughly 20:00 mins)
And Monica is third, at roughly 34:15 mins)
Resources
Tax Research Masterclass
Croner-I discount (for their tax resources, Navigate Tax)
Show notes: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/TTPP59
Subscribe: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/subscribe
Take control of your career progression free course: https://documents.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/freecourse
You’ll Learn
- Harriet introducing herself
- (5:15) What you have to do to qualify as a tax barrister
- (11:30) What tax barristers typically do – in terms of activities (I was surprised)
- (31:45) How Harriet’s role has evolved over the years
- (34:00) Remuneration for barristers – how this works and what you can expect to earn
- (36:00) How barristers’ chambers work
- (46:30) Advice from Harriet if you’re considering becoming a tax barrister
Resources
Bar council website: https://www.barcouncil.org.uk/
Bar standards board websites: https://www.barstandardsboard.org.uk/
Benchmark your salary or discuss available roles
with James at The Tax Recruitment Company.
Find out what you're worth and if you're paid the right amount.
Mobile: 07768 252 252
Email: j.howell@taxrecruitmentcompany.co.uk
Book a Zoom meeting: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/salarychat
P.S Corporation Tax roles are in large supply, and James is currently recruiting for many of these!
Show notes: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/TTPP58
Subscribe: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/subscribe
Take control of your career progression free course: https://documents.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/freecourse
You’ll Learn
- Why I wanted to join the CIOT's Employment Taxes Committee
- (7:15) Expectations v reality
- (10:30) Benefits
- (14:45) Cons
- (20:15) What you’re expected to do/How much time do you need to dedicate?
- (22:35) How to join if you’re interested
Resources
CIOT’s page re committees: https://www.tax.org.uk/ciot-committees
Show notes: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/TTPP57
Subscribe: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/subscribe
Take control of your career progression free course: https://documents.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/freecourse
You’ll Learn
- A humble and honest overview of Mark’s career
- (23:00) The 5 Ms of marketing – motive, market, message, media and method – which can be used with social media
- (29:45) Views around why many of us tax professionals aren’t natural ‘sales’ people, so that you can understand how to change your mindset and approach
- (39:00) How to help people understand what you do, so that when they need your services they come to you or refer people to you
- (44:15) How to generate more work from your firm’s current client base
- (51:00) What to avoid if you want to win more tax work
Resources
Mark’s Taxation articles:
- Mentioned in the episode: “Competing Interests”
- Giving up tax
Benchmark your salary or discuss available roles
with James at The Tax Recruitment Company.
Find out what you're worth and if you're paid the right amount.
Mobile: 07768 252 252
Email: j.howell@taxrecruitmentcompany.co.uk
Book a Zoom meeting: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/salarychat
P.S Corporation Tax roles are in large supply, and James is currently recruiting for many of these!
Having a free career-coaching chat with The Tax Recruitment Company can help you with this. It can improve your job satisfaction, and make you feel more content and happier in your life. You can book one of these free chats, with The Tax Recruitment Company, here.
Show notes: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/TTPP56
Subscribe: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/subscribe
Take control of your career progression free course: https://documents.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/freecourse
You’ll Learn
- An overview of Chris’s career and why he decided to set up his own practice
- (10:15) How Chris went about getting his first clients (and what he learnt)
- (19:00) How to support and help trainees develop, without compromising the work that you need to do
- (26:45) Why he decided to transfer ownership of Maslins to an employee ownership trust
- (41:00) How Chris has created other tax businesses (the word tax being used loosely here!)
- (54:15) Career advice he’d give his younger self and advice to people towards the start of their careers
Resources
All Tax Career Success Secrets episodes: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/TCSS
Show notes: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/TTPP55
Free access some of Croner-I’s tax resources (and discounts if you want to upgrade)
Summary of tips and bonus tip from the episode
You’ll Learn
- (8:00) What tax research is
- (14:00) Where to start when you’re researching a technical query
- (22:15) Credible tax resources
- (19:15) Tips and warnings
Resources
Tax Research Masterclass – Register Interest
Summary of tips and bonus tip
Free access some of Croner-I’s tax resources (and discounts if you want to upgrade)
Webinar recording: https://www.att.org.uk/ntp-tax-query-2022
Show notes: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/TTPP54
Subscribe: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/subscribe
Step-by-step guide to creating revision folder for ATT/CTA exams: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/revisionfolderguide
You’ll Learn
- An overview of Heather’s career
- (7:15) How roles for working in practice, industry, for HMRC or for law firms differ, in Heather’s view
- (18:00) Why Heather decided to go to HMRC later in her career, X years after working in tax, and the invaluable experience this gave her
- (25:30) Heather’s story about starting Women in Tax (WIT) with the other founding members
- (31:15) Heather’s advice around career planning , why she’s such a big advocate (particularly if you want children), and how to figure out where you want to be in 5 years’ time with some form of certainty
- (44:00) Heather’s answer to “Do you have to be good at ‘selling’ to become a tax partner?”, and advice around delegation and developing staff
- (51:30) Advice she would give her younger self and top tips for people wanting to progress, develop and improve their tax careers
Benchmark your salary or discuss available roles
with James at The Tax Recruitment Company.
Find out what you're worth and if you're paid the right amount.
Mobile: 07768 252 252
Email: j.howell@taxrecruitmentcompany.co.uk
Book a Zoom meeting: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/salarychat
P.S Corporation Tax roles are in large supply, and James is currently recruiting for many of these!
Show notes: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/TTPP53
Subscribe: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/subscribe
Take control of your career progression free course: https://documents.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/freecourse
Guest – Stephen Hodgson, Head of Indirect Tax at Entain, a FTSE 100 company
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sjhodgson/
You’ll Learn
- Brief overview of Stephen’s tax career
- (4:15) Why Stephen decided to take an in-house role after 11 years working at Big 4 firms, and reservations he had at the time
- (11:30) What Stephen did to ensure the move would be a good fit for him
- (18:00) How Stephen found the transition, what he noticed was different about working in house to in practice, and how he dealt with this
- (40:15) What Stephen thinks is next for his in-house role, whether he would consider moving back to practice, and whether that would impact his salary
- (46:45) Stephen’s advice for people who are considering the move to in house
Benchmark your salary/see what roles are availableBenchmark your current salary, or discuss available roles, with James at The Tax Recruitment Company.
Find out what you're worth and if you're paid the right amount.
Mobile: 07768 252 252
Email: j.howell@taxrecruitmentcompany.co.uk
Book a Zoom meeting: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/salarychat
P.S Corporation Tax roles are in large supply, and James is currently recruiting for many of these!
Show notes: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/TTPP52
Subscribe: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/subscribe
Take control of your career progression free course: https://documents.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/freecourse
You’ll Learn
- (4:30) The 6 productivity lies to avoid
- (11:00) How to set big and specific goals in line with what you want, and the ‘truth’ the productivity
- (17:45) How to achieve more in less time by applying the One THING principles
- (26:00) How, in practice, I’ve applied the book’s principles in my tax career
- (31:15) Some examples of big and specific goals
Resources
The One THING: The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results, by Gary Keller and Jay Papasan
Show notes: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/TTPP51
Subscribe: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/subscribe
Take control of your career progression free course: https://documents.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/freecourse
You’ll Learn
- What a criminal HMRC investigation is
- (10:00) When someone can be subject to a criminal investigation, including the fine line between tax avoidance and evasion.
- (13:00) The main differences between civil and criminal investigations.
- (19:00) The 2 most common mistakes Alice sees tax professionals making when supporting clients with criminal tax investigations, along with her advice to prevent this from happening
- (16:15) Final tips for tax advisors in relation to criminal tax investigation
Resources
Navigating your career: In conversation with Jack Bonehill – my guest episode on Taxing Matters: https://www.rpc.co.uk/perspectives/tax-take/taxing-matter-navigating-your-career-in-conversation-with-jack-bonehill/
Show notes: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/TTPP50
Subscribe: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/subscribe
Free step-by-step guide to create your own revision folder: Thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/revisionfolderguide
You’ll Learn
- (7:00) Autumn’s story for preparing for TOMC and how she developed her CTA study technique
- (11:00) Nitin talking about his scenario-based approach to preparing, and how Autumn took it one step further to get maximum benefit from practice questions
- (13:30) Some advice from Nit and Autumn in terms of exam technique to apply with the exams being open book
- (23:00) Advice around what you should be doing roughly a month before the exam
- (36:30) The difference in approach required in sitting the ACCA ATX exam compared to the CTA TOMC exam
- (41:30) What to do if you get behind in studying
Resources
Free step-by-step guide to create your own revision folder: Thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/revisionfolderguide
Other exam podcast episodes, to help you pass ATT/CTA: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/exampodcasts
Show notes: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/TTPP49
Subscribe: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/subscribe
Take control of your career progression free course: https://documents.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/freecourse
You’ll Learn
- 5 skills that are important to master early on in your tax career
- Some tips to help you improve these skills
Related Episodes
Tax research
TTPP 1: How to Undertake Effective Tax Research
TTPP 26: 8 Tax-Research Sins
TTPP37: Master Using Tax Legislation (and the Benefits this Brings)
TTPP42: Master Using HMRC Manuals for Tax Research
Tax Advice
TTPP 10: How to Write Good-Quality and Practical Tax Advice
Explaining Tax rules Clearly
TTPP18: How to Explain Tax Rules & Concepts Clearly (to Help Others Understand!)
Show notes: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/TTPP48
Subscribe: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/subscribe
Take control of your career progression free course: https://documents.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/freecourse
You’ll Learn
- Kate’s career and her journey to in-house Head of Tax at AO
- (14:30) Kate’s experience of going back to work after having kids
- (18:00) How Kate dealt with being single the only in-house tax professional for her employer, and a wider discussion about her approach to running an in-house tax team
- (27:45) How Kate has dealt with being shy and achieves a work-life balance whilst holding senior roles
- (39:30) An unexpected piece of career feedback that Kate received
- (42:30) What advice Kate would give you her younger self, knowing what she knows now, and her advice for progressing, developing and improving your tax career
Resources
TTPP45: Her Journey to Tax Partner at 35 with Jennie Brown (Tax Career Success Secrets Ep 5)
All episodes of Tax Career Success Secrets: https://www.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/tcss
Show notes: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/TTPP47
Subscribe: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/subscribe
Take control of your career progression free course: https://documents.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/freecourse
You’ll Learn
- (8:30) Why Dipti likes working in-house
- (13:00) Differences to working for an accountancy firm
- (21:30) Salary differences (including times to move in-house where you’d get a salary increase)
- (28:00) A work-life balance comparison
- (33:30) Her advice on how to obtain an in-house role suitable for you (regardless of your specialism)
Resources
Dipti’s networking article “Better Networking”: https://www.taxadvisermagazine.com/article/better-networking
Show notes: https://www.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/ttpp39c
Subscribe: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/subscribe
Tips to Pass CBEs – Tip Sheet: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/CBEtips
You’ll Learn
· An overview of what the accounting CBE covers (Principles of Accounting)
· (20:00) Areas of the syllabus that you need strong understanding of
· (24:15) Emma’s suggested approach to studying for this exam
· (31:00) Final pieces of advice to pass the exam
Resources
TTPPP:39: How to Pass the ATT/CTA Computer-Based Examinations (CBEs) with Lisha Boothman
TTPP 39a: Tips to Pass the Law CBE (Essential Law for Tax Practitioners) with Lisha Boothman
TTPP39b: Tips to Pass the Ethics CBE (ATT, CTA, Computer-Based Exam, Professional Responsibilities and Ethics for Tax Practitioners) with Lisha Boothman
All exam related episodes: https://www.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/category/podcast/att-cta/
Tax Career Success Secrets episodes: https://www.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/category/podcast/taxcareersuccesssecrets/
Show notes: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/TTPP46
Subscribe: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/subscribe
Take control of your career progression free course: https://documents.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/freecourse
You’ll Learn
- 8 tips to provide feedback to help tax staff grow and develop
- Things to consider and bear in mind when providing feedback
- Mistakes to avoid when giving feedback
Resources
TTPP 3: How to Obtain Good Quality Feedback (and Why You Should Ask for More!)
TTPP 4: How to be a Better Delegator to Progress your Career with Mike Clayton
TTPP34: Successfully Delegate Tax Work, Particularly to Less-Experienced & Junior Staff
The One Thing – Book
Show notes: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/TTPP45
Subscribe: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/subscribe
Take control of your career progression free course: https://documents.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/freecourse
You’ll Learn
- Jennie’s career and why she chose to specialist in personal tax over corporation tax
- (16:30) How she dealt with what she felt was a lack of training early in her career, which stopped her from leaving the profession
- (28:00) About Jennie’s approach to nurturing and building her team, and taking advantage of everyone’s strengths
- (41:30) What Jennie thinks contributed most to becoming a partner at 35 and her experience so far
- (48:45) Standout advice that Jennie received, and advice she would give to her younger self, knowing what she knows now
Resources
Other episodes of tax career success secrets – thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/tcss
Show notes: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/TTPP44
Subscribe: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/subscribe
Take control of your career progression free course: https://documents.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/freecourse
You’ll Learn
- About our guests
- (7:15) Having children and a career, as well as working part-time more generally and related advice
- (28:15) Pay inequality and how to avoid this
- (38:15) Feeling disadvantaged for being female and action taken
- (49:00) Achieving success for females in a male-dominant profession
Show notes: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/TTPP43
Subscribe: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/subscribe
Take control of your career progression free course: https://documents.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/freecourse
You’ll Learn
- (8:30) What the tax recruitment market looks like right now
- (15:30) Common career problems & reasons tax professionals look to move jobs
- (23:30) Indicators and signals for you to consider a career move
- (28:45) When you shouldn’t be considering a move
- (33:15) How to find a tax job which is the right fit for you
Resources
Free webinars for UK tax professionals: https://www.taxrecruitment.co.uk/new-webinars/
UK tax summit: https://taxsummit.co.uk/
My career in tax: https://www.taxrecruitment.co.uk/my-career-in-tax/
Show notes: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/TTPP39b
Subscribe: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/subscribe
Tips to Pass CBEs – Tip Sheet: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/CBEtips
You’ll Learn
- An overview of what the ethics CBE covers (Professional Responsibilities and Ethics for Tax Practitioners)
- Specific tips to help you pass the ethics CBE
Other Eps
TTPPP:39: How to Pass the ATT/CTA Computer-Based Examinations (CBEs) with Lisha Boothman
TTPP 39a: Tips to Pass the Law CBE (Essential Law for Tax Practitioners) with Lisha Boothman
TTPP 19: How to Pass the ATT/CTA Exams with Nitin Rabheru
TTPP35: From Deloitte Partner to OTS Tax Director, with Bill Dodwell (Tax Career Success Secrets Ep 1)
Show notes: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/TTPP42
Subscribe: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/subscribe
Take control of your career progression free course: https://documents.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/freecourse
You’ll Learn
- (2:30) Why you should use manuals
- (4:30) Tips associated with using them so you can find the information you want quickly
- (17:00) Some things to watch out for and be aware of
- (26:15) How to implement the tips
Resources
TTPP37: Master Using Tax Legislation (and the Benefits this Brings)
TTPP 1: How to Undertake Effective Tax Research
Show notes: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/TTPP41
Subscribe: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/subscribe
Take control of your career progression free course: https://documents.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/freecourse
You’ll Learn
- Keith’s tax career
- (14:00) Keith’s experience of converting to a tax barrister, and how he balanced studying, work and family
- (22:30) Keith’s refreshing story on how he got into tax writing, along with some tax writing tips
- (37:30) Keith’s standout piece of advice he received and his tips to help you progress, develop and improve your tax career
Other episodes of Tax Career Success Secrets
TTPP35: From Deloitte Partner to OTS Tax Director, with Bill Dodwell (Tax Career Success Secrets Ep 1)
TTPP36: His Journey in Tax to CIOT President with Peter Rayney (Tax Career Success Secrets Ep 2)
TTPP38: TTPP38: Falling into a Tax Career to becoming CEO with Nimesh Shah (Tax Career Success Secrets Ep 3)
Show notes: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/TTPP39a
Subscribe: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/subscribe
Tips to Pass CBEs – Tip Sheet: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/CBEtips
You’ll Learn
- An overview of what the law CBE covers (Essential Law for Tax Practitioners)
- Specific tips to help you pass the law CBE
Resources
TTPPP:39: How to Pass the ATT/CTA Computer-Based Examinations (CBEs) with Lisha Boothman
Other exam help episode:
TTPP 19: How to Pass the May 2021 ATT/CTA Exams with Nitin Rabheru
Tax Career Success Secrets ep:
TTPP35: From Deloitte Partner to OTS Tax Director, with Bill Dodwell (Tax Career Success Secrets Ep 1)
Show notes: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/TTPP40
Subscribe: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/subscribe
Take control of your career progression free course: https://documents.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/freecourse
You’ll Learn
- (2:00) My big delegation lesson
- (10:00) The importance of training and developing staff and tips for doing this
- (18:00) Why you should, and how you can, spent time developing client relationships
- (25:15) What I’m calling the ‘One Thing’ approach
Resources
TTPP34: Successfully Delegate Tax Work, Particularly to Less-Experienced & Junior Staff
Delegation Form
TTPP11: How to Increase Your Chances of Winning/Converting Tax Work with Martyn Sloman (Without Being Pushy!!)
The One Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results by Gary Keller (book)
7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey (book)
Show notes: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/TTPP39
Tips to Pass CBEs – Tip Sheet: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/CBEtips
Subscribe: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/subscribe
You’ll Learn
- (6:30) We compare the written papers to the CBEs, and discuss the key information you need to know about the CBEs, including the types of questions
- (18:45) The ‘options’ for tuition
- (24:00) You’ll hear about our suggested way to learn the material, memorisation techniques, and ways to keep motivated
- (41:30) Lisha’s last piece of advice to pass the CBEs
Resources
TTPP 19: How to Pass the May 2021 ATT/CTA Exams with Nitin Rabheru
TTPP35: From Deloitte Partner to OTS Tax Director, with Bill Dodwell (Tax Career Success Secrets Ep 1)
Show notes: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/TTPP38
Subscribe: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/subscribe
Take control of your career progression free course: https://documents.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/freecourse
You’ll Learn
- (2:50) An overview of Nimesh’s career
- (19:30) How Nimesh went from Tax Senior Manager to Partner to CEO, without trying for promotion
- (30:30) How Nimesh started working ‘smarter’ rather than harder
- (33:30) The ironic reality when Nimesh started to properly delegate, which he wishes he did sooner, plus a discussion around delegation
- (39:30) An amazing way to improve your staff’s confidence, and a powerful piece of advice a colleague provided Nimesh which gave him the freedom to develop
- (45:30) Advice Nimesh would give to his younger self, knowing what he knows now
- (49:00) Nimesh’s final tips to help you improve your tax career
Resources (Other Episodes of Tax Career Success Secrets)
TTPP35: From Deloitte Partner to OTS Tax Director, with Bill Dodwell (Tax Career Success Secrets Ep 1)
TTPP36: His Journey in Tax to CIOT President with Peter Rayney (Tax Career Success Secrets Ep 2)
Show notes: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/TTPP37
Subscribe: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/subscribe
Take control of your career progression free course: https://documents.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/freecourse
You’ll Learn
- (4:00) Why I think it’s a mistake to avoid using tax legislation
- (6:30) The different types of legislation and why knowing this is important (my embarrassing story)
- (12:00) My advice on how to go from legislation rookie to being able to use it well
- (21:30) Why you should not assume words have their ‘usual’ English meaning in legislation, and tips to find the specific definitions given to words
- (24:50) Rules of statutory interpretation
- (28:50) My secret tip to really ramp up your legislation-using skills
Resources
How to Undertake Effective Tax Research (episode 1)
How to Build and Maintain Strong Tax Knowledge (episode 6)
Explanation of different types of legislation: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/understanding-legislation
More info on rules of statutory interpretation: https://www.open.edu/openlearn/ocw/mod/oucontent/view.php?id=68342§ion=3
Interpretation Act 1978 https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1978/30/contents
Show notes: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/TTPP36
Subscribe: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/subscribe
Take control of your career progression free course: https://documents.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/freecourse
You’ll Learn
- (2:45) An overview of Peter’s career, including his view on being a ‘mixed’ tax expert (as opposed to a specialist)
- (15:30) Peter tips for good tax writing
- (21:15) How tax writing has positively impacted Peter’s career, and how you can get involved in writing too
- (27:00) How he has kept technical work at the core of what he does
- (29:15) His role as National Tax Technical Partner
- (33:15) A great piece of career advice Peter received
- (37:30) 3 tips from peter to help you progress your tax career
Resources
TTPP35: From Deloitte Partner to OTS Tax Director, with Bill Dodwell (Tax Career Success Secrets Ep 1)
Take control of your career progression free course: https://documents.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/freecourse
Subscribe: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/subscribe
Show notes: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/TTPP35
Subscribe: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/subscribe
Take control of your career progression free course: https://documents.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/freecourse
You’ll Learn
- (2:45) About Bill’s career
- (20:00) About his role as Deloitte’s Head of Tax Policy
- (23:00) The value of becoming ATT/CTA qualified
- (25:00) The qualities of a good tax advisor
- (31:00) Bill’s advice on dealing with mistakes or errors
- (39:00) The most important skills to be a partner
- (48:00) Bill’s 3 tips to help you progress your tax career
Resources
Take control of your career progression free course: https://documents.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/freecourse
TTPP29: The Road to CIOT President with Ray McCann, Ex-CIOT President
Delegation form: https://www.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/delegationform
Show notes: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/TTPP34
Subscribe: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/subscribe
Take control of your career progression free course: https://documents.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/freecourse
You’ll Learn
- (4:20) Common barriers and misconceptions around delegation
- (11:40) Benefits of and reasons to delegate
- (16:00) My eureka moment and how you can take advantage of this when delegating tax work
Resources & Related Episodes
Delegation Form
TTPP 4: How to be a Better Delegator to Progress your Career with Mike Clayton
TTPP 3: How to Obtain Good Quality Feedback (and Why You Should Ask for More!)
Show notes: https://www.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/ttpp33
Subscribe: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/subscribe
Tax Professionals Book Club: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/bookclub
Take control of your career progression free course: https://documents.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/freecourse
You’ll Learn (and timings)
- Martin’s first networking event (roughly 6 mins 15 seconds into the episode)
- Martin’s ingenious secret to spark conversations (roughly 12 mins 45)
- The one thing to never to at networking events (roughly 22 mins 40)
- Overcoming the anxiety (roughly 30 mins 30)
- What makes a good networking event (roughly 34 mins 20)
- My biggest takeaway from the discussion (roughly 42 mins 45)
- Martin’s top networking tip (roughly 44 mins 45)
Resources
Tax Professionals Book Club: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/bookclub
Take control of your career progression free course: https://documents.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/freecourse
Show notes: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/TTPP32
Subscribe: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/subscribe
The Tax Professionals Book Club: https://www.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/bookclub
You’ll Learn
- About the technical advisor vs the practical advisor
- Grahame’s tips on how to provide better tax advice
- How being a trusted advisor will improve the advice you provide to clients, and ways to become such an advisor
Resources
TTPP10: How to Write Good-Quality and Practical Tax Advice
TTPP18: How to Explain Tax Rules and Concepts Clear
TTPP28: Provide Great Tax Advice on Grey Areas (6 Tips!)
Show notes: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/TTPP31
Subscribe: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/subscribe
Take control of your career progression free course: https://documents.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/freecourse
Tax Professionals Book Club: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/bookclub
You’ll Learn
- The three skills you should master to be a great tax advisor
- How to improve in each of these areas
Related Episodes:
Technical Ability
- TTPP 1: How to Undertake Effective Tax Research
- TTPP 6: How to Build and Maintain Strong Tax Knowledge to Excel as a Tax Professional
- TTPP26: 8 Tax-Research Sins
Advisory
- TTPP 10: How to Write Good-Quality and Practical Tax Advice
- TTPP18: How to Explain Tax Rules & Concepts Clearly (to Help Others Understand!)
- TTPP28: Provide Great Tax Advice on Grey Areas (6 Tips!)
Sales
- TTPP11: How to Increase Your Chances of Winning/Converting Tax Work with Martyn Sloman (Without Being Pushy!!)
Show notes: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/TTPP30c
Subscribe: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/subscribe
Free Step-by-step guide to creating your own revision summary/folder
You’ll Learn
- Tips and advice on how to pass the CTA APS paper (particularly OMB)
- Difference between the Advanced Technical and the APS papers (including Nitin’s examples how you would present essentially the same information differently)
- How to structure an answer to the APS exam question
- The most important skill to master to pass the APS paper
Other Episodes and Resources
- Free Step-by-step guide to creating your own revision summary/folder
- TTPP30a: How to Pass an ATT/CTA Resit
- TTPP30b: How to Pass the CTA OMB Advanced Technical Paper
- TTPP 5: How to Pass the November 2020 ATT and CTA Exams (Open Book for the First Time) with Nitin Rabheru
- TTPP 19: How to Pass the May 2021 ATT/CTA Exams with Nitin Rabheru
- TTPP 22: 8 CTA/ATT Revision Tips (Maximise the Benefit from your Revision Sessions!)
Show notes: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/TTPP30b
Subscribe: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/subscribe
Free Step-by-step guide to creating your own revision summary/folder
You’ll Learn
- Tips and advice on how to pass the CTA Advanced Technical Paper (particularly OMB)
- The importance of, and how to, link together the chapters to prepare yourself for the exam
- Both Libby and Nitin’s number 1 tip to pass the exam
Other Episodes and Resources
- Free Step-by-step guide to creating your own revision summary/folder
- TTPP30a: How to Pass an ATT/CTA Resit
- TTPP30c: How to Pass the CTA OMB APS Paper
- TTPP 5: How to Pass the November 2020 ATT and CTA Exams (Open Book for the First Time) with Nitin Rabheru
- TTPP 19: How to Pass the May 2021 ATT/CTA Exams with Nitin Rabheru
- TTPP 22: 8 CTA/ATT Revision Tips (Maximise the Benefit from your Revision Sessions!)
Show notes: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/TTPP30a
Subscribe: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/subscribe
Free Step-by-step guide to creating your own revision summary/folder
You’ll Learn
- How to get the motivation you need to pass the ATT or CTA resit
- How to self-reflect and be honest with yourself to figure out why you didn’t pass last time so the same doesn’t happen again
- How to approach and prepare a resit to give yourself the best opportunity to pass
- The most important point Nitin wants you to take away from the episode
Resources & Other ATT/CTA Episodes
- Free Step-by-step guide to creating your own revision summary/folder
- TTPP30b: How to Pass the CTA OMB Advanced Technical Paper
- TTPP30c: How to Pass the CTA OMB APS Paper
- TTPP 5: How to Pass the November 2020 ATT and CTA Exams (Open Book for the First Time) with Nitin Rabheru
- TTPP 19: How to Pass the May 2021 ATT/CTA Exams with Nitin Rabheru
- TTPP 22: 8 CTA/ATT Revision Tips (Maximise the Benefit from your Revision Sessions!)
Show notes: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/TTPP30
Subscribe: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/subscribe
Free Step-by-step guide to creating your own revision summary/folder
The three episodes:
- TTPP30a: How to Pass an ATT/CTA Resit – live on Wednesday 21 July
- TTPP30b: How to Pass the CTA OMB Advanced Technical Paper– live on Monday 26 July
- TTPP30c: How to Pass the CTA APS Paper – live on Monday 2 August
Other ATT/CTA Episodes and Resources
- Free Step-by-step guide to creating your own revision summary/folder
- TTPP 5: How to Pass the November 2020 ATT and CTA Exams (Open Book for the First Time) with Nitin Rabheru
- TTPP 19: How to Pass the May 2021 ATT/CTA Exams with Nitin Rabheru
- TTPP 22: 8 CTA/ATT Revision Tips (Maximise the Benefit from your Revision Sessions!)
Subscribe: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/subscribe
Tax Professionals Book Club: https://www.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/BookClub
Take control of your career progression free course: https://documents.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/freecourse
You’ll Learn
- The most valuable lesson Ray learnt after joining PwC from HMRC
- What being CIOT President entails
- Career advice Ray would give to his younger self, and the best piece of career advice Ray has received
- Ray’s advice on how to have a successful career
Resources
Ray emphasised the importance of feedback in the episode, so you may be interested in episode 3 of the podcast, How to Obtain Good Quality Feedback (and Why You Should Ask for More!).
Show notes: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/TTPP28
Subscribe: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/subscribe
Take control of your career progression free course: https://documents.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/freecourse
You’ll Learn
- Practical tips you can apply to provide great tax advice on grey areas
- How understanding the client’s objectives, drivers and appetite for risk will help you provide the best tax advice on a grey area for that client
- Some words that you can use to make it clear to the client that the position doesn’t have a definitive or correct answer
Episodes Mentioned Within the Episode
TTPP1: How to Undertake Effective Tax Research
TTPP6: How to Build and Maintain Strong Tax Knowledge to Excel as a Tax Professional
TTPP10: How to Write Good-Quality and Practical Tax Advice
TTPP18: How to Explain Tax Rules and Concepts Clear
Show notes: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/TTPP27
Subscribe: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/subscribe
Take control of your career progression free course: https://documents.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/freecourse
You’ll Learn
- What could be getting in the way of your career success
- How to figure out what career success looks like for you and how to achieve it
- James’ 7-step solutions to achieve career success
- Key skills that James considers universally important if you want to achieve career success
- James’ top tips to progress your career
Resources
Free course
7 Habits of Highly Effective People
Related episodes:
- TTPP 16: 7 Habits of Highly Effective Tax Professionals
- TTPP 20: You’re Tax Qualified! Continue Your Career Progression Post Qualification (How to)
- TTPP 23: The Benefits of Having Your Own Tax Specialism/Niche (& Tips to Choose Yours!) with Sofia Thomas
Show notes: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/TTPP26
Subscribe: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/subscribe
Take control of your career progression free course: https://documents.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/freecourse
You’ll Learn
- How to avoid potentially embarrassing mistakes (the Tax-Research Sins) when doing tax research
- The consequences of doing the Tax-Research Sins
- What you should do instead
Resources
TTPP1: How to Undertake Tax Research Effectively
HMRC manuals
Useful online dictionary (I personally use this as I find it to be the best)
Show notes: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/TTPP25
Subscribe: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/subscribe
Take control of your career progression free course: https://documents.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/freecourse
You’ll Learn
- How you can help businesses protect themselves against being liable for the CCO, and the importance of a risk assessment
- HMRC insight into the CCO (including how HMRC are enforcing it, the amount of live CCO investigations, and when we can expect to see the first prosecution)
- Myths and misconceptions around CCO (including incorrect belief that it only applies to certain types of businesses)
- The importance of, and who is considered, an associated person
Resources
HMRC guidance: Corporate offences for failing to prevent criminal facilitation of tax evasion
Criminal Finances Act 2017: Part 3 – Corporate offences of failure to prevent facilitation of tax evasion
Sam on the Taxing Matters podcast talking about CCO: https://www.rpc.co.uk/perspectives/tax-take/taxing-matters-the-new-corporate-criminal-offence-of-failure-to-prevent-tax-evasion/
Show notes: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/TTPP24
Subscribe: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/subscribe
Take control of your career progression free course: https://documents.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/freecourse
You’ll Learn
- What the requirements of CPD are for CIOT/ATT membership
- Tips on how you can approach CPD to meet the requirements
- Some effective but effortless ways to do CPD
- What the CIOT & ATT’s guidance says counts as CPD
Resources
Please note that some of the links included on this page are affiliate links. If you purchase through an affiliate link, I will get a small commission which will go towards the costs of running, and will support, the podcast, at no increased cost to you.
Therefore, if you enjoy, have gotten benefit from, or would just like to support the podcast (and are going to purchase any of the below anyway), it would be appreciated if you purchase through the links on this page.Books mentioned in the episode:
- Successful Consulting by Anna Hipkis
- 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R Covey
- Business Storytelling – From Hype to Hack by Jyoti Guptara
- The Essential Managers Handbook
Podcast episodes mentioned in the episode:
- TTPP 16: 7 Habits of Highly Effective Tax Professionals
- TTPP 21: How to Publish Articles in Tax Magazines and Reap the Career Benefits with Hannah Hurley
ATT/CIOT CPD guidance
ATT/CIOT CPD form
Show notes: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/TTPP23
Subscribe: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/subscribe
Take control of your career progression free course: https://documents.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/freecourse
The Go To Expert by Heather Townsend (the book recommended by Sofia in the episode)
You’ll Learn
- Why having a tax specialism/niche is beneficial to your tax career, and why Sofia is FOR having a tax niche
- The opportunities that specialising has provided Sofia
- Sofia’s tips to help you chose a tax specialism that is right for you (there is a real gem here!)
- Whether there is such a thing as being too niche
- Sofia’s tips on what to do if you are thinking about starting your own tax business (including how to go about getting your first tax clients!)
Resources
Other episodes of the podcast which may benefit you:
- TTPP 20: You’re Tax Qualified! Continue Your Career Progression Post Qualification (How to)
- TTPP 16: 7 Habits of Highly Effective Tax Professionals
- The Go To Expert by Heather Townsend (the book recommended by Sofia in the episode)
Show notes: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/TTPP22
Subscribe: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/subscribe
Summary of the tips from this episode: https://documents.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/8revisiontips
You’ll Learn
· 8 revision tips to help you pass the CTA/ATT exams
· Things you can do to minimise time wasted when revising (i.e. being effective and productive)
· How to get maximum benefit from practice questions and past papers you do
· Ways to keep your revision interesting to keep you motivated
ResourcesStep-by-step guide to create your own ATT/CTA revision folder
Summary of the tips in this episode
Other episodes to help with the exams:
- TTPP 19: How to Pass the May 2021 ATT/CTA Exams with Nitin Rabheru
- TTPP 5: How to Pass the November 2020 ATT and CTA Exams (Open Book for the First Time) with Nitin Rabheru
Show notes: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/TTPP21
Subscribe: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/subscribe
Take control of your career progression free course: https://documents.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/freecourse
You’ll Learn
- The benefits of tax writing for your tax career
- How to get your articles published in tax and industry magazines
- Hannah’s tips to write good articles
Resources
Take control of your career progression free course: https://documents.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/freecourse
Hannah’s Taxation articles: https://www.taxation.co.uk/biography/hannah-hurley
Hannah’s Tax Journal articles: https://int-taxjournal.azurewebsites.net/authors/hannah-hurley
IntroHave you ever wondered how people get their articles published in tax magazines? Would you like to get your own published?
I have been interested in this previously but got put off the idea by not knowing where to start.
What would I need to do? Who would I need to contact? Am I experienced enough? Would I get paid for my published articles?
These are just a few of the questions that were going through my head, and this episode’s guest, Hannah Hurley, answers all of these, and explains some simple steps that you can take to publish your very own articles.
Hannah has had a few articles published across Tax Journal and Taxation magazines, and has impressively done so in relatively early stages of her career. You don’t need 20+ years’ experience to publish your own articles!
Hannah has also featured as a panel member in a Women-in-Tax panel discussion on “Rasing Your Profile – Writing for Publications”, is ACA and CTA qualified, and is currently a Corporate Tax Assistant Manager at Blick Rothenberg.
Take a listen to learn the benefits of writing tax articles, how to get your articles published, and Hannah’s tips to help you write better articles.
Show notes: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/TTPP20
Subscribe: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/subscribe
Take control of your career progression (free course): https://documents.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/freecourse
You’ll Learn
- How to have direction and motivation immediately after qualifying (whether ATT/CTA or other tax qualification) to continue progressing your career
- Tips to help make a decision on the direction to take your tax career in
- How to set worthwhile goals and objectives (along with the importance of them)
- Whether you should do another professional qualification (such as ADIT, STEP, ACA, etc)
Resources
TTPP 2 – How to Improve your Productivity with Carl Pullein (Productivity Expert): https://www.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/ttpp2/
Take control of your career progression (free course): https://documents.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/freecourse
Show notes: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/TTPP19
Subscribe: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/subscribe
Step-by-step guide to create your very own revision folder: https://documents.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/revisionfolderguide
You’ll Learn
- Students’ experiences from the November 2020 exams, and how to avoid their common pitfalls
- How to prepare for the May 2021 ATT/CTA exams
- What material you can take into the exam (Nitin suggests a revision folder – don't let the name fool you)
- How to create your very own ‘revision’ folder (step-by-step guide can be found here)
- How to approach doing tables in the software
- Nitin’s summary on how to approach the studying stage (more detail in episode 5 of the podcast)
- Nitin’s tips on revising for the May 2021 exams
Resources
TTPP5: HOW TO PASS THE NOVEMBER 2020 ATT AND CTA EXAMS (OPEN BOOK FOR THE FIRST TIME) WITH NITIN RABHERU – this is still relevant!
Step-by-step guide to creating your very own revision folder
CIOT/ATT exam skills focus sessions
Nitin’s ATT/CTA Exams Support Page
Show notes: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/TTPP18
Subscribe: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/subscribe
Take control of your career progression free course: https://documents.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/freecourse
You’ll Learn
- Tips on how to become better at explaining tax rules and concepts clear to others (including colleagues and clients)
- Why firstly fully understanding the tax rules you are explaining is important
- That you don’t need to just use words – pictures, diagrams and handouts can help
- Practicing over time will, whilst making effort, will help you to be become better at explaining to others
Other similar episodes of the podcast
TTPP 10: HOW TO WRITE GOOD-QUALITY AND PRACTICAL TAX ADVICE
TTPP 7: HOW TO HAVE EFFECTIVE MEETINGS AS A TAX PROFESSIONAL WITH LOREN LAZARONY
TTPP 6: HOW TO BUILD AND MAINTAIN STRONG TAX KNOWLEDGE TO EXCEL AS A TAX PROFESSIONAL
TTPP 4: HOW TO BE A BETTER DELEGATOR TO PROGRESS YOUR CAREER WITH MIKE CLAYTON
TTPP 1: HOW TO UNDERTAKE EFFECTIVE TAX RESEARCH
Show notes: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/TTPP17
Subscribe: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/subscribe
Take control of your career progression free course: https://documents.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/freecourse
You’ll Learn
- How the ADIT qualification will benefit your career
- Who the ideal candidates are for the ADIT qualification
- Whether the CTA or ADIT is more beneficial for you
- What knowledge and skills you will learn from doing ADIT
- What you need to do to obtain the ADIT
- Advice on how to convince your employers to cover the costs (and maybe study time) to do the ADIT
Resources
Enrol on Free Course – Take Control of your Own Tax-Career Progression
Helpful articles by Catriona:
- Which is the best qualification for your tax career – ADIT International Tax Affiliate or CTA Chartered Tax Adviser?
https://extrataxtraining.com/cta-vs-adit/ * How much does it cost to study ADIT
https://extrataxtraining.com/cost_of_adit/ * ADIT prospectus from CIOT website: https://www.tax.org.uk/adit-international-tax/prospective-students/prospectus-and-syllabus
Show notes: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/TTPP16
Subscribe: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/subscribe
Take control of your career progression free course: https://documents.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/freecourse
You’ll Learn
- What the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People are, and how these will help your tax career and personal life
- How the 7 habits translate to a career of working in tax, with examples
- How to become more effective in your tax job with the habits
Resources
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R Covey
The companion workbook
Related TTPP Episodes
TTPP 1: HOW TO UNDERTAKE EFFECTIVE TAX RESEARCH
TTPP 4: HOW TO BE A BETTER DELEGATOR TO PROGRESS YOUR CAREER WITH MIKE CLAYTON
TTPP 10: HOW TO WRITE GOOD-QUALITY AND PRACTICAL TAX ADVICE
TTPP12: ROAD TO TAX MANAGER – ACCELERATE YOUR PROGRESSION WITH 10 TIPS LEARNT FROM MY JOURNEY
TTPP 14: HOW TO STEP UP INTO YOUR NEW TAX ROLE/PROMOTION (EXCEL & CONTINUE PROGRESSING!)
Note: the Amazon links above are affiliate links, which means that if you purchase through them, you will be supporting the podcast as I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. If you have found the podcast of my other material helpful, I would appreciate the support by purchasing through those links.
Show notes: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/TTPP15
Subscribe: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/subscribe
Take control of your career progression (free course): https://documents.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/freecourse
Show notes: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/TTPP14
Subscribe: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/subscribe
Take control of your career progression free course: https://documents.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/freecourse
You’ll Learn
- Three key steps to step up into and excel in your new tax promotion or tax role. In brief: (understand what is expected of you, identify areas you need to work on and improve on them, and seek feedback to ensure your perception matches others’)
- How you can prepare and set yourself up for your next promotion
- Answers to the questions: “When it comes to delegation, should you assign a full piece of work to a single individual or spread it over multiple?” and “Should you have role models to help you progress and develop, and if so, how?”
Resources & Related Episodes of Podcast
- TTPP 3 – How to Obtain Good Quality Feedback (And Why You Should Ask for More)
- TTPP4 – How to be a Better Delegator to Progress Your Tax Career with Mike Clayton
- Free course to help you accelerate your tax-career development at a pace set by you
Show notes: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/TTPP13
Subscribe: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/subscribe
Take control of your career progression free course: https://documents.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/freecourse
You’ll Learn
- Why it’s important to have a work-life balance and that such a balance will be unique to you, your values and goals
- Jo’s tips to help you figure out the right work-life balance for you – having a vision will give you direction and something to work towards
- Ways to go about achieving that balance for you and how to overcome typical obstacles that get in the way
- How to take responsibility of your own work-life balance (as no one else will do it for you!)
- Polite and respectful ways to say “no”, which is key in getting your work-life balance
- Jo’s tips for managing your workload well as a tax professional, so you get work done quicker and a better balance
Resources
- Jo’s article: The Real Truth About Work Life Balance
- Jo’s “How to Say No” free webinar
- 4-Hour Work Week by Tim Ferris
Please note – this Amazon link is an affiliate link which means I will get a small commission to support the podcast if you purchase from Amazon, at no increased cost to you. - TTPP 2: How to Improve Your Productivity with Better To-Do List and Email Management with Carl Pullein
- TTPP 4: How to be a Better Delegator to Progress your Tax Career with Mike Clayton
Show notes: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/TTPP12
Subscribe: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/subscribe
You’ll Learn
· 10 tips to help you progress and improve your tax career
· About misconceptions that I had about a successful tax career, so that you can throw them out the window and focus on what’s important to progress
· The benefits and value of having a tax specialism
· How to create your own career USP
· Key skills that you should start learning as soon as possible to set you up well for your future career in tax
Related Episodes
· TTPP 3: How to Obtain Good Quality Feedback (and Why You Should Ask for More!)
· TTPP 4: How to be a Better Delegator to Progress your Career with Mike Clayton
Calls to Action
· Decide on or understand what your USP is
Intro
A long 5 years ago (yes long!), I started my tax career as a Trainee Tax Consultant.
As a naïve and slightly over-confident 21-year-old, I thought I knew exactly what I needed for a successful tax-career and that it would be plain sailing.
I can now confidently say that I had no idea. Who would’ve known!
Over the past 5 years, I’ve become CTA qualified and most recently, promoted to Tax Manager. Both of which I am proud of.
I’m not saying these to brag or show off in any way. I’m saying it to give you confidence that you can achieve it too, and to just say I’ve learnt a thing or two over the past 5 years that I’d like to share that I think you’ll find useful.
So, in this episode, I’m sharing tips from what I’ve learnt on my journey to Tax Manager, to help accelerate your progression and improve your tax career.
You’ll Learn
- How to improve your chances of converting opportunities into client work without being pushy
- The common mistakes that people make when it comes to selling so you can avoid them
- What the preparation stage before a meeting to discuss opportunities with a client or prospective client should consist of
- What you should do during and at the end of these meetings to increase your chances of converting the opportunity into paid work
- How best to follow up an opportunity with a client after you’ve quoted, without being pushy
- How to politely ask a client if they are still interested in a potential service, and how you can use Martyn’s ‘ultimatum’ email as a last resort
IntroductionIf you work in a role where you provide tax services and advice, at some point you will be faced with the requirement to win client work.
Or, if I were to use the dreaded word, ‘selling’ services to clients.
As tax professionals, this is not something we are taught how to do. It’s one of those things we are expected to ‘pick up’ on the job.
But it is absolutely paramount that you are able to win client work if you want to make it to Senior Manager or above, generally speaking. In some firms, you may even need to do this at more junior roles.
So, if you want to progress your career to these levels, you will need to develop and work on the skill of winning client work.
That’s why I thought it would be great to invite this episode’s guest, Martyn Sloman, onto the podcast.
Martyn is known as the “non-pushy” sales trainer – which instantly caught my attention, as I’ve been worried about coming across as pushy in the past, and maybe you have too.
All of Martyn’s advice is provided to help you be “non-pushy” too, but be “professionally persistent”.
In the episode, Martyn provides some great tips to improve your chances of winning client work.
So, if this is something you are looking to get better at, I highly recommend you take a listen!
Show notes: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/TTPP11
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Show notes: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/TTPP10
Subscribe: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/subscribe
You’ll Learn
- The approach I recommend you take to write good quality tax advice
- What you should do before and after writing the advice
- How to become quicker at writing advice
- Some final tips to help you become better at writing tax advice
Related Episodes
- TTPP 1: How to Undertake Effective Tax Research
- TTPP 3: How to Obtain Good Quality Feedback (and Why You Should Ask for More!)
- TTPP 6: How to Build and Maintain Strong Tax Knowledge to Excel as a Tax Professional
Resources
- Eats, Shoots and Leave book by Lynne Truss (a book to help you master correct punctuation, if you prefer books – I know I do!)
Just to note, if you purchase through this link, you will support the podcast as Amazon will make a small referral payment to me at no additional cost to you. * Free apostrophe guides:
o https://www.thepunctuationguide.com/apostrophe.html
o For Acronyms in particular: here
- Free guide to avoid comma splicing: here
- Skill Share (where you can improve your skills from from online courses, covering everything from Excel (and other hard skills) to business writing (and other soft skills!).
You can get access to all of their courses for free two months by signing up with this link: 2 Free Months of Skill Share.
Just to note, by signing up for the free 2 months through this link, you will support the podcast, as Skill Share will make a small referral payment to me, at no cost (and no additional cost if you decide to continue to use after the free two months) to you.
You’ll Learn
- About the impact that COVID-19 has had on the tax-job market
- Trends in terms of how coronavirus has affected the recruitment process of tax jobs and remote working
- Georgiana’s tips on how to approach your job search
- Georgiana’s CV and interview preparation tips for tax professionals
- What you could do if you’ve been made redundant to increase your chances of getting a job quickly
IntroductionCoronavirus has taken its toll across the UK economy, and it is no secret that it has taken an impact on available jobs, including jobs within the tax profession.
Some working in tax have been furloughed for prolonged periods, and some will be at risk of, or have already been faced with, redundancy.
It is inevitably a difficult time, and I wanted to help in some way through the podcast, to help those of you who are in an unfortunate position and need to look for a new job in an unprecedented market.
So, Georgiana Head, an experienced and well-known tax recruiter, joined me on the podcast to explain from her experience what the current tax-job market looks like, how it is changing, and to provide you with tips to improve your chances of successfully landing your next job.
Georgiana first trained in tax, becoming ATT qualified and working for PwC, before moving to recruitment. She works closely with candidates to help them understand suitable and available jobs, even if this is for a role which she is not recruiting for, and helps them to increase their chances of being offered a tax job by improving CVs and helping them to properly prepare for interviews.
Take a listen to find out what Georgiana has to say!
Show notes: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/TTPP9
Subscribe: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/subscribe
Show notes: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/ttpp8
You’ll Learn
- Essential Excel shortcuts and time-savers to enable you to become quicker at using Excel
- Highly used, must-know and beneficial formulas, which will enable you to do 90% (or at least most) of the tasks you’ll ever need or want to do in Excel
- Tips to help you review formulas to correct mistakes and errors
- Some pointers for good practice when creating an Excel sheets so they are more useable, easily understandable, and less likely to be broken by others
- What you can do if you’re stuck
Introduction
Before I started working in tax, being able to use Excel hadn’t even crossed my mind.
All I thought would be important was learning tax rules and being able to advise accordingly.
But, as you probably know, there’s much more to being a tax professional.
You may not see it as essential but being able to use Excel well will save you SO MUCH time and hassle in the long term. And there will probably be times where you have no choice but to use it!
I got thrown in the deep end within weeks of my first tax job, with what was a large and difficult Excel task, with another one to follow shortly after. I had no prior knowledge or experience in Excel at this point (apart from the basics of adding and subtracting!), which made this all the more tricky.
At the time I didn’t realise what a great opportunity this was. I just wanted to get stuck into learning tax.
But looking back, it really was an excellent experience for me in building my Excel skills. I was enrolled on a thorough online Excel course and then immediately after able to apply what I’d learn in a practical, real scenario.
Since, I’ve built many spreadsheets since which I’ve been proud of. Yes – it is possible to be proud of a spreadsheet!
The only thing with courses for Excel is they are, generally speaking, very generic. Only some of what you learn will be useful on the job, and if my experience is anything to go by, you’ll probably never use large amounts of it again.
That’s not a good use of time and personally I think unnecessary for many people to do.
To save you time, energy and effort, I bring you this episode to give you what I think are the key Excel essentials.
From my own experiences, these will enable you to do most things that you’ll ever need to do in Excel as a tax practitioner and will enable you to do these quickly to save time, which is such a precious resource in today’s world.
There’s so much more I could have put into this episode but to keep it brief and relevant, I’ve only included what I think are the must-knows. So, there’s a good chance there will be future episodes supplementing this.
Take a listen to find out more – I think you’ll find it useful.
Ever come out of a meeting, thinking that it was a complete waste of time? Like it was not necessary for you to attend the meeting?
That your time could be better spent elsewhere?
You’re not alone.
This is a common problem for those who work in professional services (and not just restricted to us who work in tax!). Learning how to run an effective meeting is one of those things we are not taught.
We end up learning from observing, and there’s a good chance the people we observe haven’t been taught how to run an effective meeting either.
Can you see the problem?
The thing is, running an effective meeting is not rocket science, as this episode’s guest, Loren Lazarony put it, as long as you know HOW.
Once you know how and have a little practice, it is easily doable!
Loren is the owner of Laz International Training, and has been providing business skills and project management training to global professionals for over 8 years. He has particular expertise in relation to running effective meetings, which he has distilled down into an online course.
Meetings are an integral part of being a tax professional. For me, being able to run effective meetings is especially important in relation to client ones, but regardless of whether you work for an advisory firm, within an in-house tax team, or otherwise, being able to run effective meetings will benefit your career.
In the episode, Loren provides lots of great straightforward, practical tips that you can implement to enable you to run more effective meetings.
Take a listen to this episode, and let’s put an end to bad meetings!
Show notes: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/TTPP7
Subscribe: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/subscribe
In this episode, I share the strategies and methods that I, myself, have and still use to build and maintain my tax knowledge, to help you do the same.
Regardless of what area of tax you work in, it is undeniably important that you have strong knowledge for the area of tax you work in.
When it comes to building your tax knowledge, the end goal should not be to know the answer to every tax question that you could ever be asked without checking (that would be impossible given the amount of tax legislation!), but having a good foundation will mean you have a good gut feeling of what the answer will be and will allow you to spot potential risks before things turn ugly. Tax research can then be undertaken as necessary to ratify the position, and the appropriate consideration given to any risks.
Building your tax knowledge may seem like an overwhelming task – given the vast volume of information – but like with anything, if you approach it in the right way, you’ll be able to build it quicker than you think.
It doesn’t matter whether you’re new to working in tax, have decided to swap specialism, or are more experienced and are looking for ways to bolster and maintain your knowledge – I think you’ll take away some useful points and ideas from this episode.
Show notes: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/ttpp6
Subscribe: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/subscribe
For the first, and maybe even the last, time ever, the November 2020 ATT and CTA exams will be ‘open book’, which means that you can take materials into the exam.
Whilst it is arguably going to be ‘easier’ (I say that with caution), don’t fall into the trap of thinking that the exams are now going to be easy. The standard of questions is not changing, and so you will still need to adequately prepare in order to ensure pass.
Studying towards an open book exam requires a different approach than if the exam was not open book.
If you’re like me, however, you may have never sat an open book exam before, and so have no clue on the approach you should take or where to start.
Fortunately for you, Nitin Rabheru, a CTA, ATT and other professional exams lecturer for BPP, knows exactly what to do, and is here to help!
Nitin is a passionate lecturer that has, and still does, teach students on how to pass open book exams. He has over 20 years’ experience and really cares about the success of students, providing lots of great material on LinkedIn.
In this episode, Nitin shares some invaluable, unique advice on how to properly prepare for the open-book November 2020 sittings.
Subscribe: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/subscribe
Show notes: https://thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/TTPP5
10 tips to pass the November 2020 ATT & CTA Exams
Delegation is one of those skills that, once mastered, will become an exceptionally useful tool for you. It will help you progress, develop and get more out of your tax career, as well as help to improve your work-life balance (if this is something you desire!).
But if you’ve had to opportunity to delegate, you’ve probably encountered a situation where delegation hasn’t gone to plan, leaving you feeling frustrated, annoyed, and like it’s quicker to do the work yourself.
You’re definitely not alone with that experience. Delegation is a skill, and like any other skill, it must be learnt, developed, and improved over time.
In this episode, Mike Clayton, from his extensive experience as a business trainer, author and speaker in helping professions, managers and leaders to excel, provides some great insights and advice so that you can become a better delegator.
Show notes: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/TTPP4
Feedback.
It is one of those things that many of us know is beneficial to help us develop and grow, but despite this, we choose to avoid it.
Obtaining feedback is feared. It can make us feel uncomfortable, threatened, and defensive. But by not taking advantage of feedback, we are depriving ourselves of a useful resource.
As tax professionals, a lot of the skills we need to are learnt through experience and practice alone, rather than taught to us in a classroom. And this makes feedback even more valuable to us.
Feedback doesn’t need to be this big scary task that is dreaded. In fact, we should embrace it, and see if for what it is – an opportunity to help us grow and develop.
I hear you. Easier said than done, I know, but still doable.
To reap the full benefits of obtaining feedback, you should:
- Adopt a ‘growth’ mindset
- Ask the right questions
- Make it easy for people to give you feedback
- Properly reflect and act upon feedback received
Want to learn how? Take a listen to this episode!
Oh, and equip with the knowledge learnt in this episode, I challenge you to ask for 5 pieces of feedback in the next week.
As tax professionals, there are times when we are exceptionally busy. Dreading tax return seasons, or that one client demanding immediate advice.
We become stressed. We work long hours. And we end up neglecting those non-urgent important tasks that we know we should do.
The solution?
Increase your productivity.
But how, I hear you ask?
If you’d have told it was this simple a year ago, I wouldn’t have believed you. But by making some simple changes to how you approach your to-do list and emails, you can save time, become less overwhelmed, less stressed, and…
More productive!
I learnt this from productivity expert, Carl Pullein, who has helped thousands of people around the work to become more productive. So I invited him on the show to help you too become more productive, too!
Take a listen, improve your approach, and get more done in less time!
Show notes: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/ttpp2
Undertaking tax research is one of those tasks that many taxes professionals dread.
After all, the thought of reading complex legislation and unclear guidance over a cuppa isn’t most people’s idea of fun, although I definitely come close to the line.
Fun or not, it is an essential part of being a tax professional.
At some point, you will need to find the answer to questions you don’t know the answer, and that is done by – well – tax research. So being able to do it effectively is key!
I’ve dedicated a lot of time to developing my technical ability and research skills, to the extent they’re probably my strongest skills right now.
So, in this episode, I share with you my personal tips to become better at undertaking research, to allow you to more easily obtain the answers to those complicate tax queries, and – I dare say – enjoy it. Or at least not dread it!
Take a listen – I think you’ll find it useful.
Show notes: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/ttpp1
The Tax Professionals Podcast is dedicated to helping tax professionals to improve their tax careers.
If you work in tax and are looking to:
- progress and develop
- obtain promotions
- improve your skills for a successful career in tax, or
- learn about the possible career options, or
- pass professional qualifications (CTA, ATT, etc)
then this Podcast is for you!
Want to find out more, to decide whether The Tax Professionals Podcast will benefit you, and to know what to expect from the podcast? Then listen to this episode!
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Website: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com
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