THE WORSHIPFUL COMPANY OF TAX ADVISERS
Tax Advisers
Tax Advisers are concerned with the administration and practice of taxation, and cover every type of tax. Taxation is all pervasive and has an impact on virtually every aspect of life and death; tax advice is needed by individuals, businesses of every sort, corporate bodies of every description and charities. Often, there is inter-action between the different taxes; similarly, any advice must often cover more than one country’s tax jurisdiction. Exposure to taxation may vary depending on citizenship or residence. The Company is proud that its Liverymen include many of the UK’s leading tax practitioners.
World Class and Fit for the Future
■ Although there is no legal requirement to be formally qualified to provide tax advice in the UK, in practice virtually every tax practitioner has a relevant professional qualification, typically from The Chartered Institute of Taxation (CIOT), one of the chartered bodies of accountants, or is legally qualified either as a solicitor or barrister and there are a number of specialist professional bodies. Many Tax Advisers hold more than one such professional qualification.
■ The leading representative body is the CIOT, which has branches in a number of countries outside the United Kingdom, notably in Europe, Guernsey, Hong Kong and Singapore. It is a UK representative for the international tax practitioners’ organisation, the Confédération Fiscale Européenne (CFE).
■ As part of its contribution to the continuing “City of London, City of Learning” project, the Company’s charity offers an annual bursary for a foreign student studying for the CIOT Advanced Diploma in International Taxation.
■ UK tax advisers are recognized as having significant international tax expertise because of the large volume of international transactions and businesses involved with the City. Taxation is ever changing and tax advisers must be "World Class and Fit for the Future" every day.
Global and Country issues
■ Clearly, taxation is not a new feature in any country! However, it is the continued growth in the complexity of tax systems and the international interactions which makes it vital to consider tax issues on a worldwide basis in most business transactions, particularly in international trade in both goods and services, for which The City has a world-class reputation.
■ The City, and the Company, always have an eye for the future. There is always scope for taxation reform and improvement by renegotiation of double tax treaties to facilitate international business.
■ For several years, the Company has provided the Lord Mayor with Tax Briefings, which cover the key tax issues regarding each of the many countries he visits in the course of his year in office. The Company is proud to be able to provide these briefings and is gratified at the recognition of their value to him. In the past, the briefings only covered outbound visits; the Company now also provides briefings when the Lord Mayor receives visits from overseas dignitaries. All the briefings focus on enhancing London's position as the Number 1 global financial services centre.
Contact: Nicholas Woolf on 020 7834 6344 or 01372 470300 or nicholas.woolf@btinternet.com