March 18th, 2026
INTRO & PART ONE INTRODUCTION Something significant shifted with the arrival of the new JSL rules. Where an umbrella company leaves a PAYE shortfall behind, the damage is no longer confined to the entity at the centre of the problem. Instead, it now threatens to spread across the supply chain, hitting agencies and end-users who […]
March 16th, 2026
This article was kindly published by Taxation Magazine in full on Tuesday 17 March 2026 Prologue Once upon a time there was a salesman. Let’s call him Rumpelstiltskin. He had a sales pitch. It went a little something like this: “You have some tax debts? You don’t need to use real money to settle it. […]
March 6th, 2026
Introduction The Sweeney[1] is taken from the Sweeney Todd, which is cockney rhyming slang for the Flying Squad. The London criminal fraternity simply shortening it to The Sweeney. It is perhaps a less well known fact[2] that tax dodgers also use The Sweeney as rhyming slang for “The FTT”. For example, “my accountant has appealed […]
February 10th, 2026
Introduction “Call me Ishmael” famously begins Moby Dick. And now, as it happens, so does this article. But whereas Melville’s book is about Captain Ahab’s unhealthy obsession with a white whale, this article is about a different kind of whale. Crypto whales: individuals and groups whose crypto holdings are large enough to matter. Ahab’s harpoon […]
September 10th, 2025
Introduction Admiral Horatio Nelson, one day, decides to buy a fine Georgian townhouse in Plymouth. His lawyer warns him via WhatsApp that “I’m no expert in this matter. However, I think you might need to pay the higher SDLT surcharge for second homes, my Lord. I suggest we get some expert advice.” Nelson, never one […]
