The dreaded Tolley’s Yellow Tax books that cause students nightmares. I’d been working in tax for around 3 months and had never seen anyone use them before.
But I kept seeing them in the filing room. Untouched. Gathering dust.
Until one day when a colleague mentioned to me that one of the owners of my employer was adamant and was trying to instill that we should always be referring to the legislation. Whether it be to do some tax research or to double-check a point that we thought we knew.
My colleague, however, didn’t seem interested. In fact, I think they thought the owner’s view was mad. I mean, why would you want to spend your time trawling through the tiniest font, tissue-thin pages, and reading the most complicated-worded sentences you could imagine?
My egotistical side has always enjoyed doing things well that others find difficult. At university, my highest marks were always in the topics that had a reputation for being the most difficult.
So, in my own weird way, I set myself the goal of learning how to use legislation well. And before I knew it, I kept getting told in appraisals that my technical skills were my strongest attribute. I would put that down almost entirely to dedicating time to learning how to use legislation and then actually using it.
It’s incredible just how useful it is, and how quickly you can build your tax knowledge from it. It’s such an invaluable tool.
But I do understand why you might be avoiding it. There is perceived complexity. I say perceived because, whilst it is by no means easy, it also isn’t as difficult as you may think.
So, in this episode, I want to share my advice from the experiences that I’ve had, to help you to become comfortable and confident in using legislation.
Listen to find out more!
You’ll Learn
- (4:00) Why I think it’s a mistake to avoid using tax legislation
- (6:30) The different types of legislation and why knowing this is important (my embarrassing story)
- (12:00) My advice on how to go from legislation rookie to being able to use it well
- (21:30) Why you should not assume words have their ‘usual’ English meaning in legislation, and tips to find the specific definitions given to words
- (24:50) Rules of statutory interpretation
- (28:50) My secret tip to really ramp up your legislation-using skills, at 29 minutes .
Related Episodes and Resources
How to Undertake Effective Tax Research (episode 1)
How to Build and Maintain Strong Tax Knowledge (episode 6)
Explanation of different types of legislation: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/understanding-legislation
More info on rules of statutory interpretation: https://www.open.edu/openlearn/ocw/mod/oucontent/view.php?id=68342§ion=3
Interpretation Act 1978 https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1978/30/contents