The Tax Professionals Podcast

Send us a textIn this episode of The Tax Professionals Podcast, host Jack Bonehill joined MTD Therapy, a community for accountants and tax advisors, for an unfiltered discussion — sometimes full-on ranting — about the latest UK Budget.Around the ranting, you’ll hear clear explanations of the key Budget announcements and expert insights into them.Episode show notesThe Tax Lab: free webinars to improve your tax skills. Real scenarios, tackled live.  MTD TherapyTimings[00:01:49] First rant[00:08:07] Start of technical discussions on the announcements[00:14:22] Pension Salary Sacrifice Changes[00:20:17] Electric cars[00:25:56] Writing Down Allowances (WDAs)[00:29:25] Employee benefits/expenses tax changes[00:36:45] Working from home expenses[00:39:21] Tax industry - positive or negative direction?[00:41:27] Regular payments throughout the year for self assessment[00:45:18] MTDGuestsRobyn Milstead, Director of Tax at LKA Chartered Accountants & Director of Accountants TherapyTom Bickle, Director of JP Blackmoor & Director of Accountants TherapyEmma Rawson, Director of Public Policy, Association of Taxation Technicians (ATT)

Send us a textYour advice is probably full of unnecessary tax jargon without you even realising it. However, you can use simpler language without losing meaning — and your advice will be much better for it. In this episode, host Jack Bonehill identifies the overly complex wording in a real piece of tax advice and shows how the same points can be written in plain English that clients actually understand and will love you for.Episode show notesThe Tax Lab: free webinars to improve your tax skills. Real scenarios, tackled live.  The Tax Advice Masterclass: teaching you a repeatable method to write high-quality tax advice with confidence and less self-doubt.Timings 00:14 – Intro: turning complex tax language into plain English that clients love. 01:11 – Client scenario: husband-and-wife partnership selling business units. 03:15 – Simplifying “income tax implications.” 06:13 – Simplifying “capital disposal” and removing jargon. 10:18 – Explaining rollover relief in plain English. 13:17 – Breaking down business asset disposal relief (BADR) simply. 15:45 – Using examples and numbers to make advice tangible. Similar episodes:TTPP124: Two Questions That Make Your Tax Advice Instantly Better in Your Clients’ EyesTTPP83: Improve Your Tax Advice Skills – Stories and Tips of 2 Tax Professionals

Send us a textYou might be giving technically perfect tax advice — but if it’s too long or too complicated, it won’t land well with clients.In this episode, Jack Bonehill shares a real story where two simple questions helped turn a colleague’s advice from technical to client-friendly. You can use these questions to instantly make your advice clearer, shorter, and more valuable from a client’s perspective.If you want to deliver better advice that clients truly value — this episode is for you.Show notes: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/TTPP124The Tax Lab (real scenarios, tackled live:  https://www.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/thetaxlab/Masterclasses for tax professionals: https://www.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/masterclasses/Timings[00:00:25] Story: reviewing a colleague’s draft of tax advice and simplifying it with two simple questions[00:02:13] Example: how we tend to overcomplicate advice with unnecessary detail[00:03:34] Why cutting complexity throughout a report makes advice stronger overall[00:04:38] How to make your advice more client-friendly[00:06:22] A two-step method — draft first, refine later using the two key questions[00:07:41] Exercise: how to apply the two questions in your next piece of advice[00:09:29] Upcoming sessions and future topics in The Tax LabThe Tax LabSharpen your skills as a tax advisor by seeing exactly how I think and approach real scenarios that we encounter as tax professionals, with The Tax Lab.The Tax Lab gives you a glimpse inside my mind — my thoughts and my approach — as I tackle real scenarios live, so you can refine your own way of working.Sessions of The Tax Lab are free to attend. Sign up so I can invite you to all future sessions.Sign up here

Send us a textClaritas Tax started in 2012 as a one-person venture. Today, it’s a 100-strong firm with eight offices across the UK. In this episode, Iain Wright, founder of Claritas, shares the journey from leaving a safe career path to building arguably the UK’s fastest-growing specialist tax firm.We talk about the first business plan, the earliest hires, how Claritas scaled, the challenges of competing without a big brand, and the trust it takes to let go of work in order to grow. Show notes: thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/TTPP123The Tax Lab (real scenarios, tackled live:  https://www.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/thetaxlab/Timings(1:00) Intro to Iain, Claritas Tax, and time-based billing story(8:00) Iain's options immediately before starting Claritas Tax, back in 2012, and his thought process(11:00) The business plan Iain drew up prior to starting Claritas - the plan and vision(13:40) The first hire - was it senior or junior?(18:02) How did Iain scale the business to 100 employees?(22:52) What challenges did the business run into as it started to get bigger (past 11 or so staff)(26:29) How Claritas solved the "lack of brand" awareness problem/challenge(29:24) The differences between running a small firm and a larger one(32:33) What's Iain's role like now?(36:03) The importance of trust(38:57) Stand out lessons to Iain from his journey - what he wished he knew when he started(41:01) What's been the hardest part of the journey for Iain?The Tax LabSharpen your skills as a tax advisor by seeing exactly how I think and approach real scenarios that we encounter as tax professionals, with The Tax Lab.The Tax Lab gives you a glimpse inside my mind — my thoughts and my approach — as I tackle real scenarios live, so you can refine your own way of working.Sessions of The Tax Lab are free to attend. Sign up so I can invite you to all future sessions.Sign up here

Send us a textWant to get better at tax research? In this episode, I share my five-step process to always get to the answer — and show you how it worked in a tricky but real client case so you can start using it yourself.  Tax Research Masterclass:Go to thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/trm for details and to enrol.Show notes:https://www.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/ttpp122/Timings[00:00] Introduction — why tax research feels overwhelming[00:00:22] My 5-step process in action: real-life client story[00:07:34] My 5-step tax research process explained[00:08:31] Deep dive into each of the five steps[00:10:47] Typical challenges tax professionals face during tax research[00:13:30] Exercise: try the 5-step process yourself[00:13:59] How the Tax Research Masterclass would help youResourcesTTPP60: Improving Your Tax Research Skills - Stories and Tips of 3 Tax ProfessionalsCroner-I's Online Tax Research Platform: Free TrialSubscribehttps://www.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/subscribe/