One minute with... Jack Bonehill

What’s keeping you busy at work?

Improving the Employment Tax team, here at PKF Smith Cooper, while delivering lots of pension salary sacrifice implementation for clients. I took over the team last September after two people resigned and another went on maternity. It has been challenging but we have two excellent new starters.

Has a recent change in HMRC practice caught your eye?

I’ve seen HMRC, for the first time recently, quote FA 2011 Sch 23, to justify that they are entitled to information during an HMRC employment tax enquiry. I know others have had a similar experience, so I presume this is a change in their approach. Typically, though, the circumstance I’ve seen them quote it in, Sch 23 didn’t give them power to request the information they wanted! I do hope that I see a decreased misuse by HMRC of their powers, because the unrepresented taxpayer can otherwise be taken advantage of.

What do you know now that you wish you’d known at the start of your career?

A lot of things (so buckle up for my answer).

One day, about six months into my tax career, I was trying to find the PAYE regulations in Tolley’s Yellow Tax Handbook. After about an hour of looking, a partner walked in and overheard me asking for help. He walked into office, grabbed one of the handbooks and within seconds, there the regulations were. I wish I’d have been taught how to use legislation, the differences between primary and secondary legislation, and how to do tax research, as I’d have saved myself embarrassment that day.

I wish I’d have known that good tax advice is not just about being right – in fact, as you probably know, there is not necessarily a right answer. Over the years, I’ve lost a lot of time trying to find a definitive answer to questions where there isn’t one.

I also wish I’d have known that to get the most senior roles in accounting firms (definitely at director and partner level) you’d need to win work. I had no idea there would be a sales element. I used to be so worried about this as I had no idea how to sell or find clients. However, it turns out that it’s not as bad as I thought, once you learn ways to do it.

The last one I’ll leave you with is that I wish I’d have known of all the different directions you can take in your tax career. There are many different roles, so it’s definitely worth taking the time to consider what you would most like to do.

What are clients currently asking about?

With increased secondary (employer’s) national insurance and national minimum wage, many clients are looking for ways to reduce costs relating to their staff. The good news is that employment tax savings are possible – maybe not as much as some would like, but they are there. The most popular one at the moment is pension salary sacrifice, but it’s not the only way. I’ve had a few clients ask about payrolling benefits too, since current plans are to mandate it from April 2026. However, we are still awaiting more detail on that from HMRC.

You might not know this about me but...

I run a podcast for tax professionals (the Tax Professionals Podcast) to help them with their tax career. If people know me in the tax world, it’s usually from the podcast these days!

I also almost dropped out of my maths degree in the first few months. I felt like I understood very little, and the thee-hour round trip commute everyday certainly didn’t help, but getting a First is one of my proudest achievements to date.

Lastly, my biggest hobby is playing video games, and I played Call of Duty competitively for years. When I started ATT and CTA, I stopped gaming almost entirely, which was a tough decision, but I really wanted to pass all the exams first time. The sacrifices we make for CTA!