Steve Gray HEXHAM

One of my ways of keeping up to date with tax is to read professional bulletin boards such as AccountingWeb. A recent article by social-media accountant Mark Lee asked what sort of tax advice clients really want. After some discussion of tax planning, tax mitigation, tax minimisation and tax avoidance - all of which are legal - he moved on to discuss the illegal side - tax evasion. While boundaries have been blurred by politicians and the media recently, an accountant's role ,according to Mark, is to help their clients comply with their legal obligations, to pay their tax due and to give tax advice. Accountants should not be devoting time to "schemes" which seek to find loopholes in tax legislation which might later be closed and classed as tax evasion.

One of the many responses to Mark's article, from "Nigel", I thought captured my approach to what my clients want: certainty, peace of mind and a clear idea of what their liabilities are (and how any course of action they might take will affect their tax liabilities).

This is the basis on which I provide a tax service to clients and it is a basis I am comfortable with. So, if you are starting or running a small business in Tynedale or on Tyneside and want assurance on your tax affairs, why not get in touch?

Steve