From tax return to tax investigation - HMRC trends for tax agents

Annis Lampard, Partner, Deloitte
Annis is the chair of the ICAEW compliance & investigations committee. She has 20 years’ experience, both in HMRC and private practice, of resolving tax investigations with a specialism on advising both UK and international wealthy families about their personal tax enquiries and those affecting their businesses and their trusts, up to and including civil fraud disclosures. In her ICAEW role, she regularly contributes to HMRC consultations on behalf of the ICAEW membership and she recently spoke on the ICAEW Tax Track podcast about the practical impacts on taxpayers and their advisors of the recent shifts in HMRC.

Derek Scott, Partner, KPMG
Derek leads KPMG's Tax Investigation team in the UK which provides advice to individuals and companies subject to all types of HMRC enquiries and investigations.

Derek specialises in advising clients who require to make a voluntary disclosure to HMRC with tax issues to resolve in connection with overseas assets and those who are subject to a serious fraud investigation (Code of Practice 9).

Derek is a regular speaker at events both in the UK and overseas on investigation, disclosure and transparency issues.

Jessica McLellan, Partner, Tax Risk & Dispute Resolution, BKL
Jessica specialises in Tax Risk and Dispute Resolution, particularly for high net worth individuals, trusts and owner-manged businesses. She has experience as a Disputes Resolution specialist and within HMRC Central Policy. She is also a Chartered Accountant and qualified Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution (CEDR) mediator.

Jessica has broad experience across the tax disputes landscape, from proactive tax risk management to complex disclosures, settlement of legacy avoidance schemes and dealing with COP9 Civil Investigation of Fraud. Her strong understanding of how HMRC works enables clients to obtain certainty and comfort in complex areas, escalation of complex disputes within HMRC and using Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) to resolve protracted cases.

Richard Jones, Senior Tax Manager, Tax Faculty, ICAEW
Richard is part of ICAEW’s Tax Faculty, leading work on business tax, compliance and investigations, and contributing regularly to TAXline, TAXwire and the Insights Podcast.

He previously worked in National Tax teams at major firms including PwC, PKF, BDO, RSM and Mazars, specialising in direct tax issues for small companies and owner‑managed businesses.