Course Details

Mini-Budget and Maxi-Budget – What You Need to Know!

Speaker: Rebecca Benneyworth – Rebecca Benneyworth Training

Time: 09:00 – 09:50


This autumn has been the most turbulent time for those dealing with tax, with changes introduced, reversed and then more potential changes announced. In this session, Rebecca will take you through what we know and what has been reversed and look at the impact for you and advice you may wish to give to clients. There could not be a more essential session for you to attend, with updated material prepared after the announcements of 31 October - the evening before the session




Inheritance Tax - What You Need to Know

Speaker: Megan Saksida – Meganomics

Time: 09:55 – 10:45


Can I give my house away and still live in it? Is the nil rate band £1m? What is the backwards shadow? Is paying for school fees or a wedding a gift? These are just some of the questions you may have received from clients on inheritance tax. As Britain’s most hated tax and often referred to as an “optional tax”, there are several ways the charge can be legally mitigated. But there are also several pitfalls and bear traps to avoid. This fast paced and informative session will help you identify the ways your clients can successfully plan to maximise the exemptions and reliefs without making any costly mistakes.  

 

In this session, Megan Saksida will cover the following:

  • Lifetime transfers - how to value the gift
  • Lifetime transfers- exemptions and reliefs
  • Lifetime transfers- what to watch
  • The death estate- exemptions and reliefs
  • The death estate- what to watch 

 

By attending this session you will be able to confidently advise your clients on the most IHT efficient way to structure a gift their home and other assets, on how best to value these lifetime gifts and how to hold them between joint parties. You will also learn how to advise on the implications of keeping property until they pass away, and the factors to consider in deciding which strategy to take.




MTD for Income Tax

Speaker: Lenny Barry, Govinder Saimbhi - HMRC

Time: 11:00 – 11:50


This session will provide the most up to date information in regards to Making Tax Digital for VAT and Income Tax Self Assessment. 

 

Take the opportunity to ask questions and have them answered by those in the know! 

 

Accountants are familiar with MTD VAT, and now signing up those below the VAT threshold. MTD for Income Tax Self Assessment is not that far aware, is a lot more complex than VAT and preparations need to be thought about now!

 

Making Tax Digital brings changes for many taxpayers, and Agents have the opportunity to look at changes and improvements within their own practice, and bring clients with them into the digital future.

 

Attendees should leave with more information, more to think about and plan for and take up the challenge of having their practices, and clients, beginning to get prepared.

 

In this session, Lenny Barry and Govinder Saimbhi from HMRC will cover:

  • The fundamentals of MTD for Income Tax Self Assessment
  • What does it mean for Accountants
  • What does it mean for clients
  • What to do now
  • What to prepare for

 

By attending this session, you will:

  • Know what MTD for Income Tax Self Assessment is. 
  • What you need to consider for your practice. 
  • What you need to consider for your clients. 
  • Prepare a plan and way forward.





Update on VAT and SDLT

Speaker: Jason Croke – Rayner Essex

Time: 11:55 – 12:45


A VAT update to reflect some new procedures for registering for VAT as agent, the transition from CHIEF to CDS (customs/duty) and proposed changes to SDLT legislation which could come into force next year.  

 

Useful for agents who register clients for VAT. Even if not familiar with customs duty, knowing the procedures clients may need to entail will help Accountants guide clients through the new style HMRC screen formats.

 

In this session, Jason Croke will cover the following:

  • Agent VAT Registration Process – new process (from 01 August 2022)
  • Customs Declaration Service (CDS) and duty deferment account (from September 2022)
  • Energy Saving Materials – VAT update
  • SDLT – Potential changes to legislation
  • New VAT penalties (from 01 April 2023)

 

By attending this session, you will gain an understanding of the new agent VAT registration process and its limitations, how to guide a client to update from CHIEF to CDS import procedures and update their duty deferment account and clarity on energy saving materials which saw a VAT rate change earlier this year.  SDLT section outlines proposed changes following HMRC consultation.




What Will Tax Cuts Mean for Your Clients: A Look at Some (Perhaps) Unintended Consequences

Speaker: Carl Bayley - Author and Presenter

Time: 13:30 – 14:20


Our new Prime Minister is going to cut taxes: that much is certain. But how much and when is less clear and depends very much on who they turn out to be and what the country can realistically afford. A cut in the basic rate of income tax seems likely and, at face value, appears to be good news for everyone: but your clients may be affected in ways they do not expect, and you need to be ready to advise them.

 

In this session, Carl Bayley will cover: 

  • What we know: the basic shape of known or anticipated tax cuts and brief summary of overall impact on taxpayers
  • Pension contributions: will they be more or less valuable, should clients look to accelerate or delay them
  • Gift Aid: the impact on both donors and charities, give now or hold off?
  • Landlords’ interest and finance costs: why a cut in the basic rate will mean some landlords are paying more tax
  • Business incorporation: what does the tax cut mean for small business owners looking to incorporate
  • Profit extraction: what does the tax cut mean for small company owners looking to pay themselves tax efficiently

 

By attending this session, delegates will understand the issues created by a cut in the basic rate of income tax and how to assist their clients in optimising their position as tax rates fall.




The Latest Developments in SDLT

Speaker: Peter Rayney - Peter Rayney Tax Consulting

Time: 14:25 – 15:15


Stamp duty land tax (SDLT) has become a very important and expensive tax and affects almost all property transactions. This session provides a clear understanding of basic SDLT concepts and principles together with an update on recent developments in the tax.

 

In this session, Peter Rayney will cover the following topics: 

  • The building blocks of SDLT
  • Special aspects of the residential property regime and Multiple Dwellings Relief 
  • SDLT aspects of incorporating a property rental business 
  • Intra-group transfers and SDLT group relief 
  • SDLT reliefs available on common company reorganisation transactions

 

This session will enable you to approach SDLT queries with more awareness and confidence.




The New R&D Tax Legislation

Speaker: Simon Briton – Quantify.tax

Time: 15:30 – 16:20


In this session, Simon Briton of Quantify will cover recent changes to Research & Development Tax legislation, hot topics, and reliefs.




The Option to Tax: Pitfalls, Problems, Solutions

Speaker: Neil Owen – VAT Advisory Services Limited

Time: 16:25 – 17:15


New Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng’s Finance Statement on 23rd September may not have been officially badged as a Budget, but it packed more punch than most Budgets we’ve had in recent years. With a huge batch of major, headline-grabbing tax cuts, some of the more obvious impacts are well understood. But is it all good news for your clients? What are some of the less obvious points they need to think about?

 

In this session, Neil Owen will cover:

  • A summary of the changes in brief
  • The in-year cuts in National Insurance rates: how does this work for the self-employed and small company directors?
  • Understanding marginal tax rates, this year and next, and how these impact on personal tax planning issues such as pension contributions and paying dividends to small company directors
  • Reversal of the Corporation Tax increase: what planning opportunities does it open up, or re-open?
  • The extension of the £1m annual investment allowance threshold: what does this mean for tax-efficient investment decisions and how does it interact with the 130% super-deduction
  • Will anybody miss the Office of Tax Simplification?
  • A look ahead at what else we might expect from the new Government

 

By attending this session, delegates will have a thorough understanding of the full implications of the Chancellor’s tax cuts and the planning opportunities that arise.

CPD Course Speaker

Rebecca Benneyworth Training

Rebecca Benneyworth

Rebecca is an ICAEW Chartered Accountant. She is a lecturer, writer and consultant on a variety of taxes, lecturing extensively throughout the UK, to accountants, business people and also to HMRC and the Treasury. She has her own accountancy practice based in Gloucestershire, with a variety of small business and personal tax clients.

During the last two years, this has become a 100% digital practice. She is Chair of the HMRC Digital Advisory Group, providing help and support to HMRC in understanding the challenges that Making Tax Digital presents to small businesses and their advisers.

She is also a member of the Admin Burdens Advisory Board, an independent advisory group to HMRC monitoring the burdens which the tax system imposes on businesses.

Meganomics

Megan Saksida

Megan is an International and Personal Tax lecturer, a Tax writer and editor, a marker and a Tax Examiner, with a special interest in capital taxes and expatriate tax issues.

Chartered accountant (FCA)
Chartered tax accountant (CTA (Fellow)
Trust and Estate Practitioner (TEP)

HMRC

Lenny Barry

Lenny works on the MTD Programme and focuses on VAT, helping agents and clients come to terms with MTD requirements.

He has been the mainstay of the MTD Webinar Programme providing tens of thousands of agents and clients with easy to follow information and explanations. He has a wealth of knowledge and experience in MTD VAT and ITSA.

Govinder Saimbhi

The VAT Guy

Jason Croke

Jason has over 20 years’ experience working exclusively in indirect taxes (VAT, import duty, SDLT) with owner-managed businesses, corporates and not for profit sectors. He particularly enjoys challenging HMRC decisions, representing clients in tribunals or during inspections.

His experience includes land and property, partial exemption and European VAT matters but equally happy with a VAT registration request too. Jason also advises on other indirect taxes such import duty and Stamp Duty Land Tax.

VAT and duty is a complicated subject, his main strength is being able to explain complex law in an easy-to-understand manner, enabling clients to understand what the problem is and crucially, what the solution is too.

It has often been said that he actually makes the subject of VAT sound interesting, but we will let you be the judge of that!

In his spare time, Jason likes cycling, regular (but not obsessive) trips to the gym, skiing in winter and hiking in the summer and is married with one teenage daughter.

BSc FCA, Author and Presenter

Carl Bayley

Carl Bayley is the author of a series of plain English tax guides designed specifically for the layperson and the non-specialist (available from www.taxcafe.co.uk). His particular speciality is his ability to take the weird, complex, inexplicable world of taxation and set it out in the kind of clear, straightforward language taxpayers themselves can understand. Carl takes the same approach when speaking on taxation, a role he frequently undertakes with great enthusiasm, including his highly acclaimed annual ‘Budget Breakfast’ for the ICAEW. He has spoken on taxation on radio and television, including the BBC’s ‘It’s Your Money’ programme and BBC Radio 2’s Jeremy Vine Show. Carl is a past Chairman of the Tax Faculty of the ICAEW and former member of the Institute’s governing Council and Board. Aside from his tax books, Carl is an avid creative writer. His first novel, Trinity of Souls, was published in 2024, with his second, Destiny of Souls, following in March 2025. When he isn’t working, he takes on the equally taxing challenges of hill walking and horse riding: his Munro tally is now 106 and, while he remains a novice rider, his progress is cantering along nicely. Carl lives in the Scottish Borders, where he enjoys spending time with his partner, Linda.

Peter Rayney Tax Consulting

Peter Rayney

Peter Rayney practises as an independent tax consultant through his own practice, advising owner-managed companies, accountants, lawyers and tax practitioners on a wide range of tax issues. He specialises in company sales/acquisitions, reconstructions, succession planning and all aspects of owner managed business taxation. His firm’s website can be found at www.peterrayney.co.uk

He is always in demand as a tax lecturer and regularly contributes tax articles to the professional press. Peter is also an author of various journals and books including the very popular “Rayney’s Tax Planning for Family and Owner Managed Companies” (Bloomsbury Professional). He has won ‘Tax Writer of the year’ at the Taxation Awards an unprecedented three times.

Peter is President of the Chartered Institute of Taxation and immediate past chairman of the ICAEW Tax ‘s Technical Committee.

Quantify.Tax

Simon Briton

Simon has 20 years' experience working with innovative companies and their advisers on R&D tax relief claims and the other tax incentives that support business growth.

As a tax-qualified lawyer, Simon handles R&D tax enquiries from a wide range of sources and has much more experience than most advisers in this space.

VAT Advisory Services Ltd

Neil Owen

Neil Owen BA CTA(Fellow) FBIAC AIIT is the founder and managing director of VAT Advisory Services Limited. He has been a full-time VAT adviser since 1990.

Neil entered the world of VAT in 1984, when he joined H M Customs & Excise as a VAT officer. After six years, split evenly between the VAT offices in Oxford and Swindon, he left the department to work for chartered accountants James & Cowper, where he headed up the provision of VAT consultancy services from 1990 to 2002.

From August 2002 to April 2007, Neil was principal of Southern VAT, a consultancy practice based in the outskirts of Southampton, and a freelance speaker. He formed VAT Advisory Services Limited in May 2007, since when he has been providing both consultancy and training services under his own banner.

Neil is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Taxation, an Associate of the Institute of Indirect Tax, and a Fellow of the British Institute of Agricultural Consultants. He was for ten years National Secretary of the VAT Practitioners Group, and for six general editor of the annual book, CCH VAT Planning. He is also a former editor of the CIOT journal, Tax Adviser.