Reflections on a career in tax from EY's Jason Lester.
Name a memorable moment in your career.
It has to be when I was promoted to partner at EY. And that’s for two reasons: the sense of achieving my career goals, on the one hand; but also the feeling of being even more empowered to lead and make a difference in the market and to our people.
Looking back on your career to date, what key lesson have your learned?
Looking back, any wisdom can be summarised in one sentence: you cannot spend enough time with your clients. So to anyone starting now, I’d say take all the time you can to develop deep and open relationships with your clients. Invest in understanding their needs better than anyone.
Where do you see the growth areas for EY’s tax practice?
All our different tax services currently experience double digit growth, so I see opportunity across all areas. If I could single out one area, it would be our legal services offering that we launched recently.
Are you seeing the emergence of any trends/developments to watch out for in tax?
BEPS will clearly create change, but I see technology impacting our clients more and more in the coming years. Businesses are increasingly coming to terms with ways they can use technology through their tax affairs to create efficient processes and minimise risk, but also to create value.
What stood out for you in the Budget?
The Budget confirmed that we will have a diverted profits tax by 1 April. The uncertainty over DPT has been a dampener on the enthusiasm for businesses to invest in the UK since it was announced at the end of last year. We will have to wait until next Tuesday for the Finance Bill, to see the full context. Whatever the detail it will be better for us to know, uncertainty is bad for the UK. On the wider investment aspect, the Budget was neutral overall, spending only £140m over the five years. With 26 measures on tax, of which 10 were badged ‘fairness, evasion and avoidance’, there were precious little gimmicks for business, which will need to be satisfied with the one percentage point cut in corporation tax. However, given that the rates cut was listed in EY’s Budget survey as the principal reason for the UK’s recent increase in competitiveness, perhaps this is not too bad an outcome.
If you could make one change to UK tax law or practice, what would it be?
The tax practice is no different to any other part of the economy when it comes to that, so I would say stability and certainty. We have done well in having a clear roadmap for many years, but we need more of it.
Finally, you might not know this about me but…
I couldn’t be happier than when bobbing around the Atlantic. Otherwise known as trying to surf!
Reflections on a career in tax from EY's Jason Lester.
Name a memorable moment in your career.
It has to be when I was promoted to partner at EY. And that’s for two reasons: the sense of achieving my career goals, on the one hand; but also the feeling of being even more empowered to lead and make a difference in the market and to our people.
Looking back on your career to date, what key lesson have your learned?
Looking back, any wisdom can be summarised in one sentence: you cannot spend enough time with your clients. So to anyone starting now, I’d say take all the time you can to develop deep and open relationships with your clients. Invest in understanding their needs better than anyone.
Where do you see the growth areas for EY’s tax practice?
All our different tax services currently experience double digit growth, so I see opportunity across all areas. If I could single out one area, it would be our legal services offering that we launched recently.
Are you seeing the emergence of any trends/developments to watch out for in tax?
BEPS will clearly create change, but I see technology impacting our clients more and more in the coming years. Businesses are increasingly coming to terms with ways they can use technology through their tax affairs to create efficient processes and minimise risk, but also to create value.
What stood out for you in the Budget?
The Budget confirmed that we will have a diverted profits tax by 1 April. The uncertainty over DPT has been a dampener on the enthusiasm for businesses to invest in the UK since it was announced at the end of last year. We will have to wait until next Tuesday for the Finance Bill, to see the full context. Whatever the detail it will be better for us to know, uncertainty is bad for the UK. On the wider investment aspect, the Budget was neutral overall, spending only £140m over the five years. With 26 measures on tax, of which 10 were badged ‘fairness, evasion and avoidance’, there were precious little gimmicks for business, which will need to be satisfied with the one percentage point cut in corporation tax. However, given that the rates cut was listed in EY’s Budget survey as the principal reason for the UK’s recent increase in competitiveness, perhaps this is not too bad an outcome.
If you could make one change to UK tax law or practice, what would it be?
The tax practice is no different to any other part of the economy when it comes to that, so I would say stability and certainty. We have done well in having a clear roadmap for many years, but we need more of it.
Finally, you might not know this about me but…
I couldn’t be happier than when bobbing around the Atlantic. Otherwise known as trying to surf!
