Always something new

ALLISON PLAGER DISCOVERS THERE IS NEVER A DULL MOMENT WITH MARK DAVIES & ASSOCIATES LTD

The rich are different. You rarely see a successful entrepreneur sell his business and then sit back and do nothing. Rather they get involved with a new venture, and plunge their enthusiasm and expertise into that.

Of course, wealthy businessmen like to know that their financial interests are being well looked after, but few have the knowledge to deal with the myriad tax matters that will come their way. Instead they leave this to the experts in that field, and this is where Mark Davies & Associates, a niche tax practice which specialises in non-domiciliaries’ tax affairs, comes in.

Mark Davies, the founder of the firm, did his training with Deloitte, becoming a chartered tax adviser in 1997. He spent ten years working in the Guernsey office, where he was trained in corporate and personal tax and also in international tax. Mark says this also gave him ‘an excellent grounding in dealing with entrepreneurs and offshore matters such as offshore trusts and companies’.

Deciding that he needed to broaden his horizons, Mark moved to London where he took the position of director at RSM Robson Rhodes and later became a private client partner heading up the personal tax team at PKF.

However, Mark says he became ‘disillusioned with big audit firms and their approach to tax’, and so left PKF in 2007 to form his own company which would concentrate solely on tax services.

Non doms

Mark Davies & Associates in particular looks after non domiciliaries, hence, says Mark, ‘the firm’s website address: www.nondom.com’. He explains that the firm ‘aims to be a one-stop shop for the ultra high net worth individual where we not only provide a high level of service looking after their personal tax affairs, including advisory and compliance work, but also help them structure their businesses and investments’. This leads to plenty of variety.

As Mark says, ‘There can be few jobs where you can be buying a super yacht one week and setting up a multi-jurisdictional business the next’.

Just because the amounts of money at stake are huge, does not mean that life has to be serious all the time. ‘Our client focus has been lots of fun, if you can call tax fun(!),’ says Mark, ‘because this has been an area where there have been substantial changes in legislation, and as a client base, non doms are very dynamic. They don’t believe in sitting around, by their very presence here they show that they are willing get on their bike (or private jet) to find an interesting project.’

Meeting demand

Three years on, Mark says ‘the firm intends to continue to expand as long as there is client demand, providing it is not at the expense of client service’. He explains that there are two planned expansion projects on hand at the moment.

‘In early February we signed heads of agreement with Dean Mullaly, formerly at HSBC International Financial Advisers, to take an interest in a new financial services business. This business will trade under the nondom.com banner and it will focus on providing proactive financial advice to non doms. We think that this is an area that has been overlooked in the marketplace to date. The investment requirements of a non dom can be different and of course there is little that can be done without the need for tax advice. We expect great synergies between the two businesses.

‘We also plan to open an office in an offshore jurisdiction in the second quarter of this year and are planning the practical and logistical aspects of this project.’

This growth and the wish to develop the firm further means that there will be potential to take on new people.

‘We have grown from one to four members of staff in the last two years,’ says Mark, ‘and we have the intention to recruit further in the not too distant future.’

Go-getters

So what kind of people will do well at Mark Davies & Associates? ‘The people we are looking for have to be proactive, commercial, and willing to deal with issues outside their comfort zone’, says Mark. ‘They must be good team players – this is an important factor in such a small team, have excellent research skills and operate at a high level of technical ability and professional integrity.’

Mark would generally expect to recruit CTA qualified staff, but adds ‘we do encourage and support our staff to study for STEP or the Advanced Diploma in International Tax’.

When it comes to continuing professional education, the firm has plenty to offer. ‘We attend external lectures on a monthly basis, and regularly attend tax conferences’, says Mark. ‘Training costs are viewed as an important investment in the business.’

What Mark most enjoys about his work is the variety. ‘Despite working in a niche area I find that, even with 15 years’ experience, I am still finding new things to learn all the time. I also enjoy working in a small team: you see a project through from start to finish, and being smaller an individual can make a real difference in influencing the direction of the firm.’

Mark Davies & Associates’ recruitment consultant, Paul Dunne of Pure Taxation Recruitment, says that the opportunity to work with a quality specialist tax boutique is of great interest to many private client tax professionals. The roles are hands on, commercial and offer huge variety.

If you are interested in working for a tax boutique, contact Paul on 020 7429 4429.