- What is Pure Tax and how do you help clients?
Pure Tax is a boutique tax risks practice, assisting entrepreneurs under HMRC investigations, large businesses subject to cross-taxes HMRC enquiries, and any person needing to make tax disclosures to HMRC. We are the buffer between our clients and HMRC.
- What are some of the strategies you use that make your work so effective?
We have a deep understanding of HMRC’s structure, practices and approaches to investigations, enquiries and disclosures. We don’t offer regular tax compliance services like bookkeepers/accountants, but we stick to what we know and work on it all-day.
- What type of work do you see the most?
We usually see complex, in-depth and intrusive civil tax investigations into entrepreneurs. It is not uncommon to also help defend someone who has been growing their business exponentially and is the subject of a tax fraud allegation, or assisting someone who had historically deliberately caused tax errors on returns but is now cooperating with HMRC to regularise the past. Other complex civil investigations comprise COP8, in which HMRC has substantial suspicions regarding tax matters involving many periods/years.
- Has clients’ needs changed over the years and how have you adapted?
As more and more clients want to speak with someone who has experience working at HMRC and/or regularly collaborates with them in this role, they are searching for independent, specialised tax investigations practitioners like us. Regular advisers are also less eager to take on these matters because they are time consuming and they tend to antagonise HMRC when they believe they are helping their clients.
- Plans or goals for the business in the coming years
I don’t think I want to necessarily grow my business, because that means the client has to rely on updates and/or strategy set by someone else in the business, when they really wanted me (the person who sold them the strategy). We want to continue being recognised as a formidable tax investigations specialist. I would like my team to grow into seniors that lead client relations and set strategies the way that I do and deliver on our promises and know-how.
