Method
“Peel and slice the banana. Spread 2 slices of bread with peanut butter and cover with sliced banana. Place the remaining pieces of bread on top and push down gently”
Yes, this is actually a ‘recipe’.
Don’t ask why I was looking, but I found it on Jamie Oliver’s site.
No wonder his restaurants went bust. (Just joshing – we love you really)
@angela wood posted something earlier in the week about the dark art of interpreting tax legislation.
Of course, in this industry, we are ultimately selling our knowledge.
Just like any professional adviser.
Yes, we absolutely need to be able to build up that technical resilience in our chosen field.
However, that is only half the story.
We need to be able to digest incredibly complex legislation but we need to be able to present it to clients in a very straightforward fashion.
Going back to the culinary analogy, we need to be able to prepare a fugu puffer fish from a technical perspective…
…but be able to explain it to a client as if we were making a peanut butter and banana sandwich.
So, I thought I would come up with a smorgasbord… more food… of tips that might help here:
#1- Don’t be a show-off…
Look, we know you’ve spent 200 hours researching a topic…
You’ve got a list of authorities as long as your arm and you’re not afraid to use them…
So you’ve attacked the advice letter armed with your judicial cluster bombs and have concluded that…
“the sale of a brown cow in Never Never Land is subject to income tax…
…however, there is an exception where the original owner of the brown cow is issued with magic beans by the purchaser in exchange for the brown cow…
…but there is an exception to that exception where, within a period of no more than three years, the magic beans have grown into a beanstalk.
However, the statutory definition of a cow is a “quadrupedal creature hailing from the bovine genus… that goes moo”.
Your quadrupedal creature is from the genus feline and goes meow.
As such, your sale of your cat is not taxable.”
Just tell them the position and put your research on file. I am sure you’ll still get a gold star.
#2 – Write for your parents
Back doing my bar training, they were consistently telling us to cut the jargon and complexity
Even where instructed by a professional, such as a lawyer, you should write as if the end client is reading your advice.
That said, I can’t see I’ve seen a great deal of evidence from that this has filtered to the tax bar!
Imagine mum and dad are reading your advice.
Can they understand it?
Make them proud.
#3 Don’t keep saying “Clearly” and “obviously”…
One I still struggle with.
There’s no need.
If you work in UK tax, it probably means you’re lying as well.
Stop it.
#4 Don’t be scared of stating the bleeding obvious…
Of course, if you are speaking with another professional, assuming certain levels of knowledge is sensible.
But if it is a lay client, don’t assume.
They might be a captain of industry. An entrepreneur who is weasel like in their commercial nous.
But maybe they’ve never heard of ATED.
You might start making them feel silly.
Especially if you keep prefacing it with “Clearly” and “obviously” (see above).
They might not want to come back and see you.
#5 Explaining the mischief rather than the legislation…
Ok, this might be a bit tax specific.
For simpletons like me, especially for complex legislation, concentrating on the mischief can be a bit of a super power.
Further, if our cunning entrepreneur (see above) is still following what you see, she will be thinking of these very wheezes.
So, for example, the temporary non-residence rules for income taxes and close companies.
A bit of a mess to explain in a vacuum.
But by explaining the scenario its supposed to target?
Magic.
You can even drop The Dave Clark 5 into the conversation.
I can’t believe I give these tips for free.
#6 Know your client…
Most of my clients have a short attention span…
…20 mins meeting with me and they’re dribbling.
I am sure that is nothing to do with me.
Although one client did call me the Undertaker.
…and I don’t think this was anything to my resemblance to the WWE wrestler.
If they have a short span. Don’t try and talk them into submission over 90 mins.
Don’t send them a 50-page report UNLESS you have made good use of an executive summary…
… and I don’t mean just a slightly shorter description (25 pages) of what you say in the main body.
Now, all that talk of peanut butter has made me hungry…
If you have any queries about this article, tax matters in general or want to know who The Dave Clark 5 were, then please get in touch…