One minute with... Simon Newark

How did you end up in tax/VAT?

Luck really.  Having left University in the early eighties with a fairly nondescript Chemistry degree and hitting the graduate unemployment debacle at the time [yes we had such problems even then!] I joined the Civil Service.  Being able to choose which department to go into Customs and Excise seemed the most exciting so ended up on the Customs Import side.  With brief forays out with drugs investigation teams I secured promotion in 1990 and with the only career path at the time being into VAT I applied for City VAT Office [excitement of the City bright lights spot a theme running here?].  Four years later with nowhere to go in HMRC I left to join the world of accountants.

Who is tax/VAT do you most admire?

This is difficult as there are so many.  I...