Adaptable like a tax adviser

Key points

• Business and the economy have become much more complicated so tax has followed. Accounting has also become more complicated.
• Buying early technology was very expensive.
• The cases of W T Ramsay and Furniss v Dawson were landmark cases but they did not herald the end of tax planning or artificial tax avoidance.
• Working at the OTS provided a new insight into the workings of the Treasury and HMRC.
• Making changes is hard due to capacity constraints.

What qualities does a tax adviser need? Perhaps one of the most important is being adaptable to change. I’m writing this article just after the general election where there was a constant focus on tax. I don’t know how many tax advisers there are – in practice in companies and in HMRC – but it’s probably fewer than 100 000. We will all be ready to spring into...