Taxidermy: Getting under the skin of a tax lawyer

Tax Valentine, be mine, be mine.

I was stunned when I read the opening words of Advocate General Bobek’s Opinion in Cussens.

I’m a busy property solicitor working in a small regional practice and deal with both residential and commercial transactions. As well as endeavouring to keep up to date with all aspects of land law, conveyancing procedures…

‘There’s something that doesn’t make sense. Let’s go poke it with a stick’ (Doctor Who in ‘Amy’s Choice’)

I can’t believe over two months have passed since my last blog post and I’m still bogged down in the SDLT surcharge legislation in Schedule 4ZA FA 2003 …

Today we try to bridge the gap between the mundane world of the real and the rather more attractive realms of the ideal. We look at how we are taxed – and at how we should be.

I have been an insomniac for a while now.  A few of you have been kind enough to suggest remedies, such as reading HMRC’s 81-page summary of responses to the Making Tax Digital consultation and listening to whale music.

When I applied for the job at the OTS a year ago now, one of the things I said to John Whiting at the interview (which didn’t seem to do any harm!) was that I’d been keenly interested in simplifying tax throughout my HMRC career.

Back in August I took a show to the Edinburgh Festival all about tax.

Not perhaps the most fertile subject for comedy – HMRC’s cock-ups aside – but I’d concluded that the dearth of media about such an important subject needed to be put right.