12 New Tax Partners at Deloitte UK

Deloitte UK has today announced a number of senior appointments within its tax practice, with the promotion of 12 senior tax specialists to partner, and five to associate partner.

Commenting on the new appointments David Sproul, UK head of tax for Deloitte, said: “The promotion of 12 new partners and five associate partners is a reflection of the growing demand from our clients in a challenging marketplace. Their collective tax expertise will further strengthen the tax practice at Deloitte and play an important role in the firm achieving its ambition to be the number one tax adviser in the UK and worldwide.”

There have been 12 promotions to partner:

Stuart Burnhope – a UK and international corporate tax specialist. Stuart works with both large multinationals and smaller privately owned companies with a particular focus on UK headquartered companies. Stuart recently moved to the Deloitte Gatwick office to continue to develop and build the tax practice and presence in the local market.

Stephen Hall – Stephen specialises in advising on transactions with private companies working on disposals, listings and buy outs and with particular focus on the entrepreneurial business market. He is also the editor of Enterprise, Deloitte’s magazine for entrepreneurs. Originally from the North East, Stephen joined Deloitte after studying at Cambridge and has been based in the Newcastle office since.

David O’Leary – David specialises in international and corporation tax with a particular focus on Outbound/Plc businesses. He also has a significant amount of property experience. David has been in professional practice for over 13 years and is a partner within the corporate tax practice in Manchester

Zubin Patel – a specialist in international tax and in particular advising multinational groups investing into the UK, especially within the media and recruitment sectors. Zubin has substantial experience in international tax planning and has advised on a wide range of corporate tax matters. A graduate of Oxford University, Zubin is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants.

Simon Prinn– a specialist in indirect tax. He leads this specialist team in the Leeds office, spearheading Deloitte’s tax services for a number of public sector clients. David has particular experience in the international supply chain having spent time in the New York office. He previously worked at HM Customs & Excise. A member of the Chartered Institute of Taxation, he has been in professional practice for over 13 years.

Ben Regan – a specialist in developing transfer pricing policies and pricing models for complex transactions, and in particular pricing transfers of risk with experience of working with businesses from a wide range of industries. Ben leads the “innovative solutions” team within the transfer pricing group, specifically within the oil and gas market sector. Based in London, he joined Deloitte in 2004 from US consulting firm Analysis Group Inc.

Reto Savoia – Reto is an international corporate tax specialist, particularly in the areas of mergers and acquisitions (M&A), cross-border structuring and business reorganisations and has advised many multinationals and private equity clients across a range of industries. Based in Zurich, he leads the M&A tax practice at Deloitte Switzerland. He holds a masters degree in both law and economics and is a Certified Swiss Tax Expert. Reto is a frequent lecturer on Swiss tax issues at the Zurich University and the Swiss Tax Academy.

Kirsten Tassell – a specialist in providing tax advice to high net worth individuals. Kirsten has significant experience in the private client tax area providing bespoke solutions to tax issues. She also acts for a number of trustees both in the UK and offshore and is a regular speaker at conferences both within the firm and externally to clients and other professional organisations. Kirsten is based in the Cambridge office.

Richard Vitou – Richard joined Deloitte in 1997 and leads the London based M&A VAT team. In addition to providing indirect tax advice on M&A transactions, he advises private equity funds and their portfolio investments on VAT matters.

Adam Waller – a member of the Employer and Personal Tax – Private Client Services team working on a diverse portfolio of private clients. Adam’s clients are business leaders and entrepreneurs advising them on their personal, family and business tax affairs. He qualified in 1998 and is based in the Leeds office.

Douglas Watkinson – an M&A tax specialist based in the London M&A Tax group. Douglas focuses on activity serving infrastructure fund clients and working on renewable energy transactions.

Jun Yamaguchi – Jun is a specialist in Japanese Human Capital services combining his knowledge of Japanese business and UK taxation offering expertise in expatriate tax compliance and consulting, cross border tax planning and tax risk management. He has also been involved in wider human capital related projects, including pension strategy advice, HR due diligence, planning for European business restructuring, European mobility management, localisation and people development.

In addition, five tax specialists have been promoted to associate partner. They are:

Sally Cooper – works in our Executive Compensation group in Employer Solutions in London advising companies and their Remuneration Committees on executive pay in the context of corporate strategy. Sally’s areas of specialty include performance metrics, pay benchmarking and incentive design. She joined Deloitte in 1997.

Pauline Hawkes-Bunyan – heads up the Indirect Tax Insurance and Funds Group working with fund managers, private equity houses, pension funds, various investment vehicles and life companies as well as other players in the wider financial services industry. She has been with Deloitte for over four years, prior to which she led the VAT Funds group in one of the other Big 4 firms. Pauline advises on all VAT aspects of investment management, including products, fund structuring and cross-border arrangements.

Matt Jones – based in Reading, Matt works within the regional corporate tax team on a number of the firm’s largest clients. He has over 15 years of UK and international tax experience and is part of a national Deloitte team of practitioners specialising in advising UK Plc’s.

Tom Rowbotham – based in Leeds, Tom is the national service line leader of the Tax Risk & Resolution team specialising in interaction, including resolution of contentious disputes, with HM Revenue & Customs advising clients and advisors in all aspects of strategy and tactics. Tom brings 20 years of experience within HMRC to the role enabling him to advise on appropriate actions required to obtain efficient commercial resolutions.

Mike Taylor – an M&A specialist based in the London M&A tax group. Mike has extensive experience in private equity transactions, corporate acquisition and divestment strategies. He is also responsible for the development of M&A specific training.