In the UK, the provision of tax services is unregulated – anybody can set themselves up as a tax adviser, even if they know nothing about tax. This has the potential to damage the effectiveness of the tax system and to undermine the reputation of professional advisers, such as ICAEW members, who do have to comply with extensive professional obligations including the PCRT.

Other countries have already gone down the regulatory route and the EU is currently consulting on possible regulation of tax advisers. But is regulation effective in driving out poor standards?

The Tax Faculty’s Wyman Symposium on 1 November will examine the hot topic of the regulation of tax advisers.

But not all unaffiliated advisers are the same. There is a balance to be struck. If regulation drives advisers out of the market, this could increase costs for taxpayers who need help navigating the UK’s complex tax system. This could result in taxpayers deciding to “do it themselves” and getting it wrong, which in turn reduces tax compliance.

This year’s Wyman Symposium, which takes place at Chartered Accountants’ Hall, will ask whether regulation of the tax profession is the way forward. The symposium will be chaired by Nick Parker, Chair of ICAEW’s Tax Faculty. To consider various perspectives, ICAEW’s Tax Faculty has assembled an international panel of speakers including:

• Jens Poll, Chair of the International Ethics Standards Board working group examining tax planning and related services;
• Francesca Lagerberg, CEO of Baker Tilly International;
• Charlotte Barbour, Director of Regulatory Authorisations at ICAS;
• Aleksandar Ivanovski, Technical Director at CFE Tax Advisers Europe; and
• Grant Wardell-Johnson, Global Tax Policy Leader at KPMG International and partner with KPMG Australia.

The panel discussion will be followed by a Q&A session.

It promises to be an important event at a critical juncture for the tax profession both in the UK and internationally.

You can book your place here:

• To attend in person
• To attend online