Old Mill bolsters tax advisory team with specialist hire

Old Mill, a digital accounting, financial planning and tax advisory firm, has appointed tax specialist Chris Watts as associate director in the capital tax advisory team.

Watts is a qualified member of the Association of Accounting Technicians, Chartered Institute of Taxation and Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners, and has 26 years’ experience in the industry, with expertise in highly complex tax structures and the tax rules around emerging assets.

He started his career in 1996 when he joined PKF-Francis Clark as an apprentice. He worked his way up from tax trainee to tax compliance manager and tax advisory consultant before being promoted to tax director in 2017.  

In 2020, he joined a boutique tax advisory firm based in Manchester working remotely, before joining Old Mill back in the west country.

Watts said: “I have worked on a number of complex tax investigations, and have provided assistance to clients and their legal teams where they are being prosecuted by HMRC for suspected criminal tax evasion cases. 

“I have also worked with individuals who have crypto investments to advise on their tax positions and assist making disclosures to HMRC where they have not understood their obligations.”

He added: “A lot of what we do in the tax team can be quite niche; making these services relevant to clients is key to the firm’s growth, and I am looking forward to coming up with new ways to promote both existing and new services to clients and deliver these in an effective way.”

David Maslen, director of tax said: “Chris’ extensive experience across complex tax matters, and his knowledge of the crypto market will further enhance our offering to clients, while his record of training and mentoring colleagues combined with his drive to grow the tax team in size and expertise will be a huge asset to the tax team and the business as a whole.”