One minute with Helen McGhee, Partner at Joseph Hage Aaronson.
What’s keeping you busy at work?
As I am sure is the same for everyone in tax, the furore in the run up to 4 July. Specifically, sifting through and decoding manifesto policies combined with health checks of existing structures to try to gage the impact for clients of what we understand will be introduced.
If you could make one change to tax, what would it be?
It’s difficult to choose just one! Particularly topical is the constant tinkering of/adding to HMRC powers which has found its way into manifesto promises. Until HMRC use their existing powers more effectively (see recent £14m ball drop re our friend Baxendale Walker [P Baxendale-Walker v HMRC [2024] UKUT 154 (TCC), see Tax Journal, 14 June 2024]), we ought not to be adding more pages to the legislation in this area.
Another perennial gripe, highlighted in recent years in the context of the IR35 regime, is what I think the economists call horizontal equity. It just doesn’t feel right that that an individual who operates as a sole trader is taxed in an entirely different way with a significantly different fiscal outcome to the same individual, operating the same business who chooses to incorporate.
Has a recent change in HMRC practice impacted your work?
The ever-evolving methodology for resolving disputes adopted by HMRC has a big impact on my day-to-day job. The current mechanism can be prohibitively linear (the matter goes from A to B to C), rather than what might be considered a more efficient strategy with A, B and C all reaching a cohesive agreement (as happens in the High-Risk Wealth Programme cohort). The length of time it takes to resolve anything is becoming very protracted.
The Failure to Correct 200% penalties are not helping with some dead lock positions. These penalty levels are giving people a reason to fight which is obstructing settlement. The rationale and driver for these penalties was great in the context of Requirement To Correct but it was perhaps only appropriate in that short time window. Maybe a new government will deliver us a neatly wrapped new disclosure facility (akin to the pragmatism we had with the Liechtenstein Disclosure Facility) with a shiny bow on top.
What do you know now that you wish you’d known at the start of your career?
Be patient. It will come. I wanted to know everything all at once and it is not until you have a few grey hairs (covered in blond!) that you appreciate that learning and building is a lifelong endeavour so enjoy the journey, don’t worry about the destination.
Are there any new rules that are causing a particular problem in practice?
The reform of the non-dom legislation is going to be seismic; one can only hope that the relevant people take their time and consult those with boots on the ground to get it right and to not squash the global competitiveness of the UK as a destination of choice for wealth and talent. The TOAA legislation (particularly the application of the motive defence) is going to take on a new dimension as a direct result of these changes.
What are clients currently asking about?
There are many questions around the future of Excluded Property Trusts and grandfathering and the ten year IHT tail which is set to drive HNWs from the UK. Oh and how to become non-UK resident.
Finally, you might not know this about me but...
I am the best lawyer and tax adviser I can be when I am given the flexibility to be the best mum I can be. I do a lot of work around retaining talent and navigating the motherhood penalty. It is something I feel very passionate about.
One minute with Helen McGhee, Partner at Joseph Hage Aaronson.
What’s keeping you busy at work?
As I am sure is the same for everyone in tax, the furore in the run up to 4 July. Specifically, sifting through and decoding manifesto policies combined with health checks of existing structures to try to gage the impact for clients of what we understand will be introduced.
If you could make one change to tax, what would it be?
It’s difficult to choose just one! Particularly topical is the constant tinkering of/adding to HMRC powers which has found its way into manifesto promises. Until HMRC use their existing powers more effectively (see recent £14m ball drop re our friend Baxendale Walker [P Baxendale-Walker v HMRC [2024] UKUT 154 (TCC), see Tax Journal, 14 June 2024]), we ought not to be adding more pages to the legislation in this area.
Another perennial gripe, highlighted in recent years in the context of the IR35 regime, is what I think the economists call horizontal equity. It just doesn’t feel right that that an individual who operates as a sole trader is taxed in an entirely different way with a significantly different fiscal outcome to the same individual, operating the same business who chooses to incorporate.
Has a recent change in HMRC practice impacted your work?
The ever-evolving methodology for resolving disputes adopted by HMRC has a big impact on my day-to-day job. The current mechanism can be prohibitively linear (the matter goes from A to B to C), rather than what might be considered a more efficient strategy with A, B and C all reaching a cohesive agreement (as happens in the High-Risk Wealth Programme cohort). The length of time it takes to resolve anything is becoming very protracted.
The Failure to Correct 200% penalties are not helping with some dead lock positions. These penalty levels are giving people a reason to fight which is obstructing settlement. The rationale and driver for these penalties was great in the context of Requirement To Correct but it was perhaps only appropriate in that short time window. Maybe a new government will deliver us a neatly wrapped new disclosure facility (akin to the pragmatism we had with the Liechtenstein Disclosure Facility) with a shiny bow on top.
What do you know now that you wish you’d known at the start of your career?
Be patient. It will come. I wanted to know everything all at once and it is not until you have a few grey hairs (covered in blond!) that you appreciate that learning and building is a lifelong endeavour so enjoy the journey, don’t worry about the destination.
Are there any new rules that are causing a particular problem in practice?
The reform of the non-dom legislation is going to be seismic; one can only hope that the relevant people take their time and consult those with boots on the ground to get it right and to not squash the global competitiveness of the UK as a destination of choice for wealth and talent. The TOAA legislation (particularly the application of the motive defence) is going to take on a new dimension as a direct result of these changes.
What are clients currently asking about?
There are many questions around the future of Excluded Property Trusts and grandfathering and the ten year IHT tail which is set to drive HNWs from the UK. Oh and how to become non-UK resident.
Finally, you might not know this about me but...
I am the best lawyer and tax adviser I can be when I am given the flexibility to be the best mum I can be. I do a lot of work around retaining talent and navigating the motherhood penalty. It is something I feel very passionate about.
