Other news

Taxation Awards — the winners!

John Newth, retired deputy editor of Taxation, won the tax writer of the year award at the sparkling Taxation Awards which took place on 24 May at the Park Lane Hilton. John, still a contributor to Taxation, has a regular column on AccountingWeb's TaxZone as well as writing for various other publications.
The full list of the winners follows:

Best stamp taxes team
Deloitte's Stamp Tax Consultancy

Best tax team in a smaller practice
Rabjohns Centre of Tax Excellence

Best tax software
2020/BBS Computing 'Tax Tips and Tools'

Best large practice tax team
Reeves & Neylan

Best tax website
Low Incomes Tax Reform Group

Best 'Big Four' tax team
PricewaterhouseCoopers Tax Knowledge and Innovation Team

Best in-house tax team
Standard Chartered Bank Global Taxation Team

Tax writer of the year
John Newth

Best international tax team
Deloitte's Employer Solutions — Japanese Human Capital Team

Best high net worth team
Smith & Williamson Ltd

Tax lawyer of the year
Paul Lasok QC

Best VAT team
KPMG's Financial Services Indirect Tax Team

Lifetime achievement award
Adam Broke

Tax personality of the year
Anne Redston

TLWO

The Tax Lecturers' and Writers' Organisation, a new web based service www.tlwo.org.uk, has been launched by Gerry Hart, past president of the CIOT and Louise Pinfold, tax writer and chartered tax adviser.
This new organisation will act as the sole point of reference for people outside the industry to obtain a credible service provider to meet their individual requirements albeit to host a lecture, write an article or offer a comment to the media. These interested parties will be able to make direct contact with the individual members through free access to the website.
Benefits of membership are two-fold:

Marketing and winning new business:

• a marketing and publicity tool;
• a medium for direct contact by an interested party;
• a way to establish new work.

Peer group interaction:

• exchange ideas and discuss best practice in a members only forum;
• offer advice and training opportunities to other members.

There is free, no obligation, unrestricted membership up to 31 December.
www.tlwo.org.uk

Improve collection!

A campaign to improve stamp duty land tax collection has been launched by the Law Society. Edward Nally, president of the Law Society said that significant changes in the way stamp duty land tax is collected were needed 'to achieve a system that works efficiently for solicitors and their clients'.
The most common problems reported are:

• Guidance for solicitors is difficult to locate, inconsistent and in some cases non-existent.
• Many forms are returned even where all necessary information has been supplied. This leads to delay, extra costs, fines and confusion for solicitors and their clients.
• The Revenue's telephone helpline is difficult to get through to and often provides inaccurate and/or inconsistent advice.

More information about the campaign is available on the Law Society's website: www.lawsociety.org.uk.

Issue: 4010 / Categories: News