One minute with Jenny Batchelor, partner at Smith & Williamson
What’s keeping you busy at work?
I have a number of transactions at various stages, including advising a joint venture (JV) partner on the tax considerations of the JV and structuring an investment into an internet business. I am also working with a number of businesses to ensure they comply with the corporate criminal offence (CCO) rules. Despite the legislation being over three years old, companies are still not fully aware of the requirements. Interestingly, it has started coming up in due diligences and, as the theoretical penalties are unlimited, this is causing companies to start to take note.
In addition to that, Smith & Williamson is continuing to grow its tax team, so I spend time interviewing to ensure we get the best people to join our business.
If you could make one change to a tax, what would it be?
Ignoring the request for simplicity and certainty (which every adviser I know wants), I have two changes on my radar.
The first relates to ‘green taxes’ and what reforms we need to drive the net zero in 2050 target. We can’t go on adding on minor ‘green tax’ benefits (e.g. temporary 0% benefit on kind rate for all-electric cars) and letting others drop away (e.g. the 100% enhanced capital allowances for the purchase of certain energy efficiency assets). We need a reform of the tax system to drive the right behaviour so that we are able to achieve this target as a country, and I am a member of a green taxes working group helping to drive this.
The second is a more radical suggestion for using tax to get more women back into the workplace. Whether we like it or not, the vast majority of caring responsibilities rest with women. I know countless women who have returned to professional jobs after maternity leave but then decided to be a stay at home parent as the amount they earn after childcare costs doesn’t warrant staying in the workplace. As I get older, I have also started to see women leave the workplace to care for elderly relatives. Of course, men do this too, but I’ve not seen it as frequently. It is one thing having targets for women in senior positions, it is another using the tax system to drive this. The tricky part is working out how to make it happen – tax deductible childcare costs, maybe?
What’s the best advice you’ve had during your career?
I had some fabulous managers and mentors when I started out in tax in Andersen who taught me a lot about being a tax adviser.
On making mistakes: ‘We will all still have our arms and legs if we make a mistake’
On being a female professional: ‘You must shout about what you have achieved in your appraisal’ (although I am still not the best at this).
On reading the legislation: ‘People can interpret legislation in different ways: never assume that how someone else interprets the legislation is correct. Read it yourself!’
On being commercial: ‘Tax technical is interesting, but only useful if it solves a problem your client has’.
I still use these today and try to pass them on to people in the team.
What’s been the biggest shift in tax during your career?
While on maternity leave, I remember tax making it to the front page of the newspaper and thinking that was a huge change. Morals came into tax discussions for the first time and gave HMRC a completely different standpoint. The increased responsibility placed on the taxpayer seems to have followed this wave: for example, senior accounting officer legislation, CCO, diverted profits tax and uncertain tax positions for large businesses.
You might not know this about me…
I wanted to be a NASA engineer when I grew up. It’s not quite my role today, but I do have to solve problems and come up with solutions.
One minute with Jenny Batchelor, partner at Smith & Williamson
What’s keeping you busy at work?
I have a number of transactions at various stages, including advising a joint venture (JV) partner on the tax considerations of the JV and structuring an investment into an internet business. I am also working with a number of businesses to ensure they comply with the corporate criminal offence (CCO) rules. Despite the legislation being over three years old, companies are still not fully aware of the requirements. Interestingly, it has started coming up in due diligences and, as the theoretical penalties are unlimited, this is causing companies to start to take note.
In addition to that, Smith & Williamson is continuing to grow its tax team, so I spend time interviewing to ensure we get the best people to join our business.
If you could make one change to a tax, what would it be?
Ignoring the request for simplicity and certainty (which every adviser I know wants), I have two changes on my radar.
The first relates to ‘green taxes’ and what reforms we need to drive the net zero in 2050 target. We can’t go on adding on minor ‘green tax’ benefits (e.g. temporary 0% benefit on kind rate for all-electric cars) and letting others drop away (e.g. the 100% enhanced capital allowances for the purchase of certain energy efficiency assets). We need a reform of the tax system to drive the right behaviour so that we are able to achieve this target as a country, and I am a member of a green taxes working group helping to drive this.
The second is a more radical suggestion for using tax to get more women back into the workplace. Whether we like it or not, the vast majority of caring responsibilities rest with women. I know countless women who have returned to professional jobs after maternity leave but then decided to be a stay at home parent as the amount they earn after childcare costs doesn’t warrant staying in the workplace. As I get older, I have also started to see women leave the workplace to care for elderly relatives. Of course, men do this too, but I’ve not seen it as frequently. It is one thing having targets for women in senior positions, it is another using the tax system to drive this. The tricky part is working out how to make it happen – tax deductible childcare costs, maybe?
What’s the best advice you’ve had during your career?
I had some fabulous managers and mentors when I started out in tax in Andersen who taught me a lot about being a tax adviser.
On making mistakes: ‘We will all still have our arms and legs if we make a mistake’
On being a female professional: ‘You must shout about what you have achieved in your appraisal’ (although I am still not the best at this).
On reading the legislation: ‘People can interpret legislation in different ways: never assume that how someone else interprets the legislation is correct. Read it yourself!’
On being commercial: ‘Tax technical is interesting, but only useful if it solves a problem your client has’.
I still use these today and try to pass them on to people in the team.
What’s been the biggest shift in tax during your career?
While on maternity leave, I remember tax making it to the front page of the newspaper and thinking that was a huge change. Morals came into tax discussions for the first time and gave HMRC a completely different standpoint. The increased responsibility placed on the taxpayer seems to have followed this wave: for example, senior accounting officer legislation, CCO, diverted profits tax and uncertain tax positions for large businesses.
You might not know this about me…
I wanted to be a NASA engineer when I grew up. It’s not quite my role today, but I do have to solve problems and come up with solutions.
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