I’ve spoken to numerous tax professionals over the last year who lack confidence when it comes to looking into technical points and reaching tax conclusions.
There are common themes in what they tell me — not knowing where to look, when to stop, and worrying that they’ve missed something important.
I’ve also seen these same people transform into confident tax researchers, including one example where a £2m tax issue was identified and resolved for a client.
In this episode, I explain why so many tax professionals struggle with confidence in this area, before sharing 6 practical tips to help you improve your own confidence
Me – Jack Bonehill
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jackbonehill94/
Email: jack@thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com
Contact me if you would like to discuss how my masterclasses for UK tax professionals can help your tax team.
Timings
- [00:01:53] 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
Tax Research Masterclass – Significantly boost your confidence
A key reason tax professionals lack confidence in researching and reaching technical positions is that they are never shown how to do.
It’s like learning to drive a car without a driving instructor.
In that context, it’s clearly silly to expect someone to become good and confident, yet this seems to be what the profession expects from us when it comes to tax research.
If you’re serious about being able to do tax research well, and as a consequence improve your confidence, then my Tax Research Masterclass is probably for you.
Next one starts in March 26.