One minute with David Maslen, Head of Tax at Old Mill.
What’s keeping you busy at work?
Succession planning for family-owned businesses. My rural colleagues are exceptionally busy helping their clients adapt to, and plan for, the proposed new rules around business property relief (BPR) and agricultural property relief (APR). My client base is largely non-farming but many are similarly impacted.
What do you know now that you wish you’d known at the start of your career?
You have to actively manage your career – don’t be a jellyfish floating with the tide. There are many paths that your career can take and realistically you won’t know that path at the outset. However, many technically minded people think that career progression will come from ‘doing a good job’. That’s not the case and you do need to be proactive – work out who your sponsors are, and who you seek counsel from and work with them to build your career. And do build a network – within your firm, within your client base and within the wider tax community.
If you could make one change to tax, what would it be?
I would remove the cliff edges which come with the High Income Child Benefit Charge and the tapering of the Personal Allowance for income above £100,000. Having regions where the marginal tax rates can be 60%–70% plus, bordered by lower rates either side, isn’t progressive taxation in my view. They just feel like sneaky, non-transparent ways, to raise tax, which successive governments now seem to get away with because the tax system is so little understood.
Are there any new tax rules that are causing a particular problem in practice?
The proposed changes to APR and BPR are causing real issues for our clients. There are some positives, which don’t often get referred to in the press, in that they are forcing family business owners to think about, and plan for, succession. This can be a good thing. But, listening to older business owners, who may not have time to adapt to the proposals, talk about how dying before 6 April 2026 might be the best thing for the family, is pretty heartbreaking.
And finally, you might not know this about me but…
I am a member of the MCC and my favourite place in the world is Lord’s. Every year, I meet with my lifelong cricketing friends and we watch the first session of the test from the same spot in the pavilion. Each year, we recount the same stories of our days playing in the Kent League and pretty much tell the same jokes. And, it is, quite simply, wonderful.
One minute with David Maslen, Head of Tax at Old Mill.
What’s keeping you busy at work?
Succession planning for family-owned businesses. My rural colleagues are exceptionally busy helping their clients adapt to, and plan for, the proposed new rules around business property relief (BPR) and agricultural property relief (APR). My client base is largely non-farming but many are similarly impacted.
What do you know now that you wish you’d known at the start of your career?
You have to actively manage your career – don’t be a jellyfish floating with the tide. There are many paths that your career can take and realistically you won’t know that path at the outset. However, many technically minded people think that career progression will come from ‘doing a good job’. That’s not the case and you do need to be proactive – work out who your sponsors are, and who you seek counsel from and work with them to build your career. And do build a network – within your firm, within your client base and within the wider tax community.
If you could make one change to tax, what would it be?
I would remove the cliff edges which come with the High Income Child Benefit Charge and the tapering of the Personal Allowance for income above £100,000. Having regions where the marginal tax rates can be 60%–70% plus, bordered by lower rates either side, isn’t progressive taxation in my view. They just feel like sneaky, non-transparent ways, to raise tax, which successive governments now seem to get away with because the tax system is so little understood.
Are there any new tax rules that are causing a particular problem in practice?
The proposed changes to APR and BPR are causing real issues for our clients. There are some positives, which don’t often get referred to in the press, in that they are forcing family business owners to think about, and plan for, succession. This can be a good thing. But, listening to older business owners, who may not have time to adapt to the proposals, talk about how dying before 6 April 2026 might be the best thing for the family, is pretty heartbreaking.
And finally, you might not know this about me but…
I am a member of the MCC and my favourite place in the world is Lord’s. Every year, I meet with my lifelong cricketing friends and we watch the first session of the test from the same spot in the pavilion. Each year, we recount the same stories of our days playing in the Kent League and pretty much tell the same jokes. And, it is, quite simply, wonderful.
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