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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