John Kavanagh

Why my clients engage me

I help other professionals - mostly accountants, but also financial advisers, fiduciaries and lawyers - to provide the best possible service to their clients.

I aim to work with other professionals in a way that suits their and their clients' needs, aims, ethos and, just as importantly, budget. My professional adviser clients benefit from my 35 years of experience as a tax adviser in dealing with specific technical issues they or their clients may face, but I can also help them retain and attract new clients and income streams.

Personal relationships with my professional adviser clients are very important to me and I ensure that I understand how each individual practice and its client base works so that I can tailor my service to their exact requirements.

I aim to provide much more than the faceless "helpline" approach but at costs which are competitive with those offerings. I will always attend meetings with professional advisers and their clients when required, usually within no more than a few days of being requested to do so, if not sooner. I am also available for Zoom meetings. You can check my schedule and make a booking on my firm's website: https://uktaxconsulting.com/schedule-a-call/ .

Recent work

One firm of accountants operating primarily in the SME sector has retained my services over the last few months  and has already achieved very significant increases in tax fee income from their existing clients; so much so that they are now planning to recruit a newly-qualified Chartered Tax Adviser to assist me with the work generated. My ability to add value to their tax function has helped them acquire new clients and new enquiries from potential clients.

I have worked with several other professional firms either on an ad hoc or project basis in areas as diverse as the incorporation of let property portfolios, settlement of HMRC counter-avoidance enquiries, immigration planning for HNWI non-doms, corporate reorganisations, incorporation of existing trading businesses, entrepreneurs relief issues and planning, purchase of own shares, inheritance tax and estate planning.

How I work with you

In my experience, the most effective way of working with accountancy firms is on a retainer basis - this enables me to fully integrate with your practice and concentrate on the areas that are likely to be most fruitful and profitable for your firm. It also enables firms to demonstrate genuinely "in-house" tax expertise as the client experience is of the firm providing the service rather than making an external referral. 

However, I am also open to working with firms on an ad hoc or project basis. I will usually charge fixed fees for such work unless this is impracticable for some reason.

I discount my hourly rates by 20% for retainer clients. 

My background and experience

I have 35 years of experience in nearly all aspects of UK and international tax, advising a wide range of clients from private individuals, owner managed businesses, publicly owned groups, trustees and executors (including offshore). Over the years, clients of my firm have ranged from private individuals to  a Fortune 100 bank. I now use my expertise and experience mostly for the benefit of accountancy practices of various sizes, including sole practitioners, small firms wishing to grow their tax services and Top 50 and international firms.

I worked initially for HMRC and then spent 7 years with Deloitte, where I qualified as a Chartered Tax Adviser. I subsequently took up positions as a specialist tax partner in a Top 20 accountancy firm and as a board director of a City Tax boutique, before starting my own practice, UK Tax Consulting, in 2004.

As well as being a Chartered Tax Adviser, I am also a member of the Association of Taxation Technicians and have also been elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.

I have written on many occasions for the professional press, in titles such as Taxation, Tax Journal and the Journal of International Taxation and for specialist websites such as Taxationweb.

Here is a selection of my recent press coverage:

• Accountancy Live: De Silva case brings clarity over schemes involving partnerships
• Tax Journal: One minute with John Kavanagh
• Accountancy: Tax settlement warning as De Silva case looms
• International Tax Review: Diageo prepares to pay $138 million as it falls foul of UK DPT 

Away from tax

My main interests outside of tax are in the arts - I am a classically trained musician, I recently ran a website dedicated to publishing reviews of contemporary art exhibitions and have even written catalogue essays, and I am also a voracious reader of contemporary and modern literary fiction.