The IA Tax Conference 2023

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Group discount: use the promotional code GROUP for 20% discount on bookings of five or more.

Returning for a fourth year, join us for the Investment Association’s Tax Conference 2023. Hosted by our Event Partners Eversheds Sutherland, the Conference offers an excellent opportunity to gain insights into the latest tax developments in the investment management industry from the people who are at the forefront of driving this change.

Hear from an influential and knowledgeable line-up of government officials, senior business leaders and tax practitioners from the investment management sector who will discuss many of the important tax developments, trends and challenges facing the industry.

With tax dominating headlines in the UK and internationally amidst a volatile geo-political and economic backdrop, join the debate on the pressures on the tax function as businesses navigate an increasingly tax literate world.

This event will be of interest to CFOs and heads of taxes and those working in Tax and VAT within investment management firms and intermediaries.

Attending this event will provide you with insight into:

• Challenges facing investment management businesses with the UK tax policy having gone through months of significant upheaval against a backdrop of shifting political headwinds
• Current outlook of UK’s tax competitiveness for investments managers and funds
• The UK and the global tax landscape and its impact for the industry as BEPS 2.0 rules start to be adopted and implemented across the world
• The latest on tax’s developing role within the ESG debate and what your business can do to stay ahead of the curve in managing this complex and evolving topic
• Latest developments from the EU Commission, including updates on their plans for ATAD 3 and the future withholding tax Directive and what it means for funds’ investment into the bloc
• Impact of the wider ranging policy changes of recent years on tax governance and tax risk management

09:00 - Registration

09:30 - Chair's Opening Remarks 

Anshita Joshi, Head of Risk and Tax Unit, The Investment Association

09:45 - Panel: UK Tax Policy / Tax Competitiveness - Challenges and Opportunities 

Moderator: Anshita Joshi, Head of Risk and Tax Unit, The Investment Association 

• Grace Stevens, Director of Group Tax, Legal & General
• Tim McCann, Group Head of Tax, Schroders
• Michael Barnard, Managing Director - Global Head of Indirect Tax, Blackrock
• Suzanne Ashwell, Head of Tax and Regulatory Change, Vanguard

10:35 - Networking break 

11:00 - Virtual Presentation: VAT in Fund Management 

Rachel Stirrat, Head of VAT & Financial Services and IPT, HM Treasury  

11:15 - Panel: VAT in Fund Management 

Moderator: Giles Salmond, Tax Partner, Eversheds Sutherland 

• Matthew Rees, Group Head of Indirect Taxes, Schroders
• Gabby Donald, Director - Financial Services Indirect Tax, KPMG
• Alan Paterson, Head of Indirect Tax, abrdn

12:00 - Presentation: International Tax Agenda - OECD

Darren Andrews, Partner - EMEIA Financial Services Tax, Ernst & Young LLP
Amit Thaker, Partner, Ernst & Young LLP

12:30 - Networking lunch 

13:30 - Panel: Tax Governance and Tax Risk Management 

Moderator: Mark Kennedy, Tax Partner, Deloitte 

• Steve Newcombe, Director of Tax, Aviva Investors 
• Liza Taylor, Head of Product and Operational Taxes, Fidelity
• Malcolm Richardson, Head of Tax, M&G
• Sarah Filbee, Head of Tax, Jupiter Asset Management 

14:10 - Presentation: Operational Taxes

Martin Killer, Tax Partner & Head of Operational, Taxes, Grant Thornton UK LLP

14:25 - Panel: Operational Taxes

Moderator: Martin Killer, Tax Partner & Head of Operational, Taxes, Grant Thornton UK LLP

• Mark Huyan, Head of Asset Servicing Tax Product, State Street
• Ross Henderson, Senior Tax Product Manager, HSBC
• Aii Ling Young, Head of Product and Investment Tax, Columbia Threadneedle 
• Suzi Evans, Managing Director, Alpine Edge Consulting

15:05 - Networking break 

15:25 - HMG Presentation: UK Fund Regime 

Matthew Parry, HM Treasury
Rebecca Hardern, HMRC

15:45 - Panel: Diversification in investment management-trends and tax considerations

Moderator: Fiona Carpenter, Partner, PwC

• Gavin Kan, Head of Product Tax, M&G Investments 
• Kathy Vawter, Head of LGIM Tax, Legal & General 
• Roger Exwood, Senior Investment Tax Advisor, Pictet Asset Management 

16:25 - Closing Remarks 

Anshita Joshi, Head of Risk and Tax Unit, The Investment Association

16:30 - Drinks reception 

Kindly hosted by:

Principal Partner:

Anshita Joshi, Head of Risk and Tax Unit, The Investment Association
Anshita Joshi is the Head of Risk and Tax at the Investment Association, where she leads the development and execution of the IA's agenda on UK, EU, and international tax and risk policy matters impacting UK funds and investment management businesses. Anshita is an industry professional with over 18 years of experience in the investment management sector. Anshita has worked in both the UK and India, and prior to joining the IA, she was a member of the asset management tax teams at PwC’s Mumbai and London offices.

Kathy Vawter, Head of LGIM Tax, Legal & General
Kathy is the Head of LGIM Tax at Legal & General, where she has responsibility for all UK and overseas tax matters impacting LGIM and its funds. Kathy is involved in international expansion, ongoing operations, strategic planning for new product launches, as well as the tax operations of existing funds. Kathy has over 18 years tax experience, with the last 12 years focused on asset managers and funds both in the UK and Europe. Prior to joining L&G, Kathy was a Senior Manager at PwC and EY and spent time working at a custody bank.

Tim McCann, Group Head of Tax, Schroders
Tim is the Group Head of Tax at Schroders. He responsible for all taxation matters affecting the Schroders Group and its managed funds, including its tax strategy, the supporting governance framework and the management of tax risk.

He joined Schroders in November 2015 having spent 19 years at PwC where he was a Tax Partner, servicing a range of clients across the asset management sector. Tim represents Schroders on a number of industry bodies including the City UK Tax Committee, the Investment Association Tax Strategy Group and the European Fund and Asset Management Association Tax and Accounting Committee.

Tim has played a leading role in helping the industry to respond to policy developments across the asset management sector for a number of years. Areas of particular focus have included the OECD Pillar 1 and 2 proposals, DAC6, ATAD III and various aspects of UK and EU VAT policy. Tim is a Chartered Accountant and has a degree in Economics with European Study from the University of Exeter.

Michael Barnard, Managing Director - Global Head of Indirect Tax, Blackrock
Michael is BlackRock's Global Head of Indirect Tax. Based in London, he has responsibility for indirect tax strategy, policy and risk management.
Michael has over 30 years' experience of VAT in the financial services sector. Prior to joining BlackRock, he was Global Head of VAT at State Street. Michael is an active member of industry bodies, representing the interests of both BlackRock and its clients. He is a former Chair of The Investment Association VAT Committee, a member of the EFAMA Tax Committee and a member of The Investment Association Tax Strategy Group.
Michael is a member of the Chartered Institute of Taxation.

Grace Stevens, Director of Group Tax, Legal & General
Grace has been the Chief Tax Officer at Legal & General Group since 2015 having joined the L&G tax team in 2011. She chairs the IA Tax Strategy Committee, chairs the advisory panel for the Winmark Tax Directors Network and is a member of the CBI Financial Services Council.

Grace has expertise across UK and international tax specialising in real estate and financial services. Before joining L&G Grace worked at RSA, Deloitte and qualified with Arthur Andersen. Grace is a Trustee and Treasurer of the charity Women In Prison.

Giles Salmond, Tax Partner, Eversheds Sutherland
Giles is a partner in our global tax group. He is head of both our indirect tax practice and our litigation and controversy tax practice.
Giles advises on all aspects of VAT, customs duties and other indirect taxes and has particular expertise in litigation having acted for clients before the tax tribunals, Supreme Court and the Court of Justice of the EU.
Giles is a CEDR trained mediator and has considerable experience in the mediation of tax disputes.
Giles regularly advises on the EU law aspects of VAT and indirect taxes and has acted for multinationals and private companies across a wide range of sectors, including financial services, TMT, hospitality and leisure as well as the government sector.
Giles is also an active member of the Investment Association VAT committee and regularly advice on all aspects of VAT in relation to both regulated and unregulated funds.

Alan Paterson, Head of Indirect Tax, abrdn
Alan Paterson is the Head of Indirect and Operational Taxes at abrdn. Alan is a CTA previously with PwC in Edinburgh, London and Sydney. He is the Deputy Chair of the IA VAT Committee and the EFAMA VAT Task Force.

Gabby Donald, Director - Financial Services Indirect Tax, KPMG
Gabby is a director in KPMG's Financial Service Indirect Tax Practice in the UK. She is a Chartered Tax Adviser and chair of the CIOT’s indirect taxes committee.

Having started her career at HMRC, Gabby has almost 20 years of experience as a financial services indirect tax specialist gained both in professional services and also in-house.

Gabby has wide ranging experience in the financial services sector but focuses primarily on investment management and private wealth. She regularly advises on both operational and governance aspects VAT in addition to providing detailed legal and technical advice.

Over the years Gabby has worked alongside industry and professional bodies on a wide range of VAT policy issues, including providing feedback to HMRC on the introduction of new measures and updates to policies and guidance.

Matthew Rees, Group Head of Indirect Taxes, Schroders
Matthew is Group Head of Indirect Taxes at Schroders. In his role, Matthew is responsible for all VAT, GST and other Indirect Taxes across the 30+ jurisdictions in which Schroders operate globally. Schroders’ business encompasses investment management (including private markets and real estate) and private banking.

Prior to joining Schroders in 2016, Matthew was a Director at PwC, where he headed the Investment Management VAT team from 2010. In total, Matthew has over 15 years’ experience in Financial Services VAT.

Matthew is a qualified tax advisor, having secured a distinction in the ATT examinations and the prize for Indirect Taxes in the CTA examinations. Matthew currently chairs the IA VAT committee and sits on both the EFAMA VAT task force and the UK Finance VAT committee, having previously sat on the CIOT Indirect Taxes steering committee.

Suzanne Ashwell, Head of Tax and Regulatory Change, Vanguard
Suzanne is the Head of Tax and Regulatory Change for Vanguard Europe. She and her Tax team manage all tax matters impacting Vanguard’s European corporate entities, investment products and workforce. She joined Vanguard in 2015, having previously worked at PIMCO, after starting her career at PwC where she spent ten years in their Asset Management Tax practice. Suzanne represents Vanguard as part of the Investment Association Tax Strategy Group, as well as being a member of the Irish Funds International Working Group and the EFAMA Tax and Accounting Committee.

Darren Andrews, Partner - EMEIA Financial Services Tax, Ernst & Young LLP
Darren is a Tax Partner at EY. Darren has over 20 years’ experience advising on Transfer Pricing and International Tax across the asset management industry.
Darren rejoined EY after working an in-house Transfer Pricing role for a FTSE10 company for 6 years
Darren has recently been assisting the Investment Association respond to the HMRC consultation on Transfer Pricing, and is the EY Pillar 2 lead for the asset management sector.

Rachel Stirrat, Head of VAT & Financial Services and IPT, HM Treasury
Rachel has worked at HM Treasury since 2015 and currently leads the Financial Services Branch of the VAT and Excise team, ensuring that ministers have high quality advice when making decisions in this policy area. Rachel’s first role at HM Treasury was leading policy work on Insurance Premium Tax. She subsequently worked in the European Finances team, leading HM Treasury’s work on participation in EU science and space programmes, and on EU administration costs as part of the negotiations of the financial settlement. Rachel has an MMathPhil from the University of Oxford.

Matthew Parry, Head of Financial Services Taxation, HM Treasury
Matt Parry is the head of financial services taxation in HM Treasury’s Corporate Tax Team. He joined the team in 2019, and has responsibility for direct tax policy across banking, insurance, funds and asset management. Before that, he held a series of other policy roles within the department.

Rebecca Hardern, Policy & Technical Adviser, HMRC
Rebecca is a policy and technical adviser in the Financial Products and Services team in HM Revenue and Customs, specifically focusing on the taxation of investment funds. Rebecca joined HMRC in 2016 and has undertaken both tax compliance and policy roles, including a secondment to HM Treasury.

Mark Kennedy, Tax Partner, Deloitte
Mark is a partner in Deloitte’s Tax Technology Consulting group, based in London. He has over 25 years' experience advising large corporates on complex, global tax compliance and reporting matters and the transformation of tax organisations. Mark leads Deloitte’s Tax Governance, Controls and Process services in North & South Europe and is a member of its ESG and Tax Leadership group, focusing on tax transparency. Mark regularly engages with HMRC at a policy level on matters such as BRR+, SAO and CCO. Alongside his client work, Mark is also Chief Operations Officer for Business Tax in the UK. Other than that, Mark is a husband and dad and enjoys running in the hills of the UK.

Suzi Evans, Managing Director, Alpine Edge Consulting
Suzi Evans is a known expert in the field of stamp duties and financial transaction taxes as they apply to global collective investment schemes. She is a member of the UK Chartered Institute of Tax Advisors, CIOT Stamp Tax Practitioners Group and sits on HMRC Working Group for Stamp Taxes on Shares. With over 20 years of Big 4 consultancy career under her belt, Suzi now runs her own practice, Alpine Edge Consulting, and continues to support HMRC, HMT, leading consultancy firms and the investment management industry navigate complicated problems with responsible solutions.

Mark Huyan, Head of Asset Servicing Tax Product, State Street
Mark recently joined State Street and leads the tax product function across State Street’s custody and fund services business. Prior to State Street he was a member of the JPM Tax Product Advisory team where he covered a range of businesses (including Prime Brokerage, Agency Securities Finance and Private Banking) and global projects (DAC 6, CRS and FATCA IGA).

Ross Henderson, Senior Tax Product Manager, HSBC
Ross brings 20 years of financial services experience across a range of roles including consultancy in a Big 4 firm, asset owner & manager in a leading Insurer & Asset Manager and as service provider in a global bank.
Ross currently leads on HSBC’s global product for a globally varied client base across all tax matters impacting cross-border investments.

Aii Ling Young, Head of Product and Investment Tax, Columbia Threadneedle
Aii Ling is the Head of Product and Investment Tax at Columbia Threadneedle with overall responsibility for all fund and client related tax matters. She joined Columbia Threadneedle in 2011 and has over 17 years of experience in the asset management sector with the last 4 years focused on real estate and private wealth. Aii Ling is responsible for Columbia Threadneedle EMEA investment products, servicing a range of globally based clients.

She has extensive experience in mainstream and alternative funds in the UK, Luxembourg and Ireland.

Aii Ling is a qualified tax advisor and a current member of the IA Tax Committee.

Steve Newcombe, Director of Tax, Aviva Investors
Steve Newcombe is Tax Director for global asset manager, Aviva Investors. He has over 30 years’ experience of the taxation of a wide range of financial services, with a focus on investment management and funds.

His previous roles include HSBC where he had responsibility for tax in its asset management business, and later acted as Global Head of Tax for its Investment Banking and Markets division. He has also worked in Coopers & Lybrand’s asset management and real estate tax team, and at Schroders.

Outside of his day to day work he acts as Treasurer for the legal charity, Advocates for International Development, and is consultant editor for Tolley’s Taxation of Collective Investment – fifth edition out soon.

Sarah Filbee, Head of Tax, Jupiter Asset Management
Sarah Filbee is Head of Tax at Jupiter Asset Management, where she has worked for over 10 years. As Head of Tax at Jupiter, Sarah has responsibility for global tax matters related to the listed Group and the funds under management. Sarah has over 25 years tax experience working across a range of financial services firms, having first qualified at PwC, then later as a Tax Director at Lehman Brothers for over 9 years, and as Investment Tax Director at the Phoenix Group.

Sarah is the current chair of the IA Tax committee, a current member of the IA Tax Strategy committee and a member of the Efama Tax and Accounting Standing Committee.

Fiona Carpenter, Partner, PwC
Fiona Carpenter is Tax Partner at PwC specialising in Alternative Asset Management and leads the UK Tax Compliance and Managed Services business. She joined PwC in August 2017 and brings with her nearly 25 years experience in tax structuring and compliance for alternative funds and managers. She enjoys working with a range of managers from start up through to listed global groups at all stages in their life cycle, helping them grow and adapt their tax function, risk management and strategy.

Fiona was previously at Ernst & Young where she was first appointed partner in 2006 and held various roles including UK asset management tax leader.

From 2010 to 2013, Fiona was the Chief Financial Officer for TT International, a boutique asset manager, founded in 1988. This provided her with an appreciation of the wider regulatory, legal and commercial issues impacting alternative asset managers.

Fiona served a term as an industry elected member of the governing body of the Alternative Investment Management Association from 2015 to 2017 and was chair of the Tax Committee for a number of years.

Malcolm Richardson, Head of Tax, M&G
Mr. Malcolm Richardson joined M&G Plc in 1987 and was appointed as Head of Tax in July 2008 and has overall responsibility for all tax issues across the M&G Plc group. Malcolm has been a Director of various Subsidiaries of M&G including M&G International Investments Limited from 2014-2018 and M&G International Investments (Luxembourg) from 2018-2021. Malcolm qualified as a Chartered Tax Adviser in 1995. He is a former chairman of the Investment Association Tax committee and currently sits on the Investment Association’s Tax Strategy Committee as well as the Association of British Insurers Tax Strategy Committee. Malcolm is also a member of the European Fund and Asset Management Association Tax Committee and runs the City Fund Managers Tax Forum. Malcolm has spoken at various conferences during his career on tax issues in respect of Authorised Funds, Property Funds, Operational Taxes and Tax Risk.

Martin Killer, Tax Partner & Head of Operational Taxes, Grant Thornton UK LLP
Martin is an experienced tax partner with a demonstrated history of working in the financial services industry, advising banks, fund managers and insurance companies on operational taxes. Martin is a qualified chartered accountant. He is a leading advisor on FATCA, CRS, Qualified Intermediary and other information reporting regimes both within the UK and internationally.
Martin has worked with many global asset and wealth managers, banks and brokers, advising them on compliance in relation to global operational tax regimes, leading compliance reviews, implementation workshops and technical training. He also advises institutions on withholding tax reclaims and other transactional taxes impacting products and trading strategies.
Martin holds relationships with key personnel at HMRC and IRS, and financial trade bodies dealing with the implementation and ongoing monitoring of operational tax regimes.
Prior to joining Grant Thornton, Martin spent 21 years at two of the Big Four firms in their financial services tax practices advising on a range of tax issues in the UK and internationally. Martin previously led a compliance team within a global financial institution’s FATCA implementation programme.

Gavin Kan, Head of Product Tax, M&G Investments
Gavin is Head of the Product Tax team at M&G and is responsible for tax matters throughout a fund lifecycle. This includes product development, product management, fund restructuring as well as structuring underlying cross border investments. He has deep experience in the establishment and ongoing operation of a variety of fund types in UK, Ireland and Luxembourg that are invested in the spectrum of public and private assets – including listed securities, real assets, private debt and alternatives.

Gavin has been at M&G since 2014. Prior to this, he qualified at Deloitte and worked in real estate and investment management tax teams.

Roger Exwood, Senior Investment Tax Advisor, Pictet Asset Management
Roger has worked in asset management taxation since 1994. In roles for Deutsche Asset Management, UBS Asset Management, BlackRock and now Pictet Asset Management he has particularly focussed on product taxation (for both listed and private assets) , but also covered corporate, VAT and M&A tax aspects. He has held regional responsibility for Europe, Asia and Latin America. He has a long standing involvement in tax public policy work, covering issues round the world and working in particular with EFAMA, where has was chair of the tax committee for many years.