The 2024 Tax Conference will be held online, from Tuesday, 11 June to Thursday, 13 June and feature a host of sessions from advisers and members.
The cost per attendee is £150 inclusive of VAT.
Please note that there may be some amendments to this schedule. Updates will be provided.
The BUFDG tax team, Andrea and Julia, welcome the members to this years’ tax conference, highlighting some of the fantastic sessions coming up, plus an update on what BUFDG have been up to. They will also present a guide on using the website for researching or ‘how to find what you need’ , demonstrating search functionality and accessing content in the easiest way.
In our first session concentrating on people taxes, Grant Thornton will be providing an update or round-up of the latest employment tax and global mobility changes and issues universities need to be aware of.
In our first session concentrating on VAT, Deloitte will be providing an update and round-up of the latest UK VAT changes and issues universities need to be aware of.
Join Susan, Partner at RSM as she explains how payrolling of benefits works, what you can and should be doing now, and what to expect in the future as HMRC roll out ‘mandatory payrolling of benefits’.
We welcome back Martin Scammell to the BUFDG tax conference for an update on all things VAT and property.
Join Louise and Kirsty as they strive to help you understand when you need to think about Transfer Pricing and why it matters.
Over the past 18 months, HMRC have undertook at number of Employer Duties reviews within the HE sector. Caroline Jones from BDO has advised a number of universities during these reviews and Julia Ascott from BUFDG has supported members, and spoken with HMRC. They will share their feedback and thoughts to help other members prepare.
Anthony and Danny will look at the mysteries of import VAT, plus provide an update on what is happening in the wider world of Customs. Simon Twells from the University of Warwick will join this session to provide his views on the current state of play.
The session will cover various different options offered by HMRC to operate payroll on a non standard basis to allow universities to manage academia and other university staff from a UK perspective more simply or easily while ensuring full compliance. It will include technical background on each option available, for example s690, foreign tax credit relief at source, Appendix 4 and Appendix 8, as well as practical aspects and case study specific for the HE sector.
Caroline and Rebecca are well known experts in their fields, as well as experts in the Higher Education sector. We welcome them back to continue their mission to support and inform us all on the tricky subject of employment status. In this session, they will start with the basics, e.g. why do we need to look at someone’s employment status, what’s the difference between sole traders and personal service companies, what are the different indicators of employment or self-employment, what information should I get to help me make a decision, where can I get more help.
This session will explore the planned place of supply changes for digitally performed services across the EU and highlight the implications for UK universities, covering:
The session will cover what to consider when looking to draft and implement global mobility policies within your university. How to ensure they are fit for purpose and achieve best success with them. Providing practical hints and tips of dos and don'ts, and what (based on experience) does and doesn't work.
Join Andrea and Julia as they welcome HMRC to the stage (figuratively speaking). We will hear from the new Sector Lead for Higher and Further Education, Deborah Johnson, as she highlights key changes to the CRM model, including the ‘temporary CRM support’ during sizeable projects, and how it impacts universities. Plus we’ll get an update on whether there were key themes from the recent Employer Duties and VAT review, and what HMRC will be focusing on over the next 12 months.
The tax position of volunteers and research participants continues to cause frustrations amongst academics/researchers who can’t understand why you may be restricting access and professional support staff who have to try to figure out whether a genuine volunteer arrangement is in place or is it something a little more complex which could make them workers and/or taxable as employees. In this session, BDO will try to cut through the noise and help build a practical process to follow when you are looking into this thorny subject.
There is little guidance on how universities should treat non-business transactions. This is a risk for both universities and HMRC alike. HMRC have now agreed that we can create an appendix to The Partial Exemption Framework for Higher Education dealing which specifically covers non-business activity. This session covers what we are proposing to include in that appendix and how it will affect universities.
KPMG will join us to discuss some of the wider Corporate Tax issues currently facing the sector (and further afield), plus giving us an update on the recent consultation on charitable donations.
An academic/researcher visits your university and has a set view on what they should receive and how they should be taxed on it. The funding body paperwork is silent on payments and tax treatment. The legislation is clear that certain payments are taxable and certain are not. You are stuck in the middle of differing opinions and views of the same payments. Paul Moreels from KPMG hears all sorts of stories about visiting academics and researchers from universities on the topic of employment taxes (and NIC/social security) and will share a simplified breakdown of what needs to be done and lead discussions on how to have those conversations.
PwC will cover some areas of interest which will be particularly useful if you are new to the sector, new to VAT or would just like a general refresher.
To use or not to use a tax engine, that is the question. This session will look at the pros and cons of using integrated or external tax engines and wider Tax Automation issues.
Little has changed around the legislation and guidance from HMRC on scholarship income (or stipends or bursaries, or whatever you may refer to them in your university!). However, that doesn’t make it any easier where there are confusing and complex individual arrangements and funding issues that may alter the entire position. Paul Moreels from KPMG has spoken with funding body, UKRI for their views of certain strands of funding and how it should be used, and will share this view, alongside best practices on where to start, and how to deal with the complex ones inviting you to discuss any current issues you are facing.
This session covers the VAT and corporation tax rules for research income, including those areas which are straight forward and those which are trickier than a loose eel in your T-shirt. We will talk about how HMRC apply rules which might be unexpected, how to work out when there is a supply and the ever present concern of VAT on collaborations.
If this is your first tax conference, you’re new to the higher education sector, or being welcomed back after a break, or would just like a bit of a refresher, this is the session for you. A member-only workshop where Carol, Michelle and TBC will talk you through what needs to be on your to do list, top tips on what has helped or hindered them in the past on VAT, Employment Taxes and Corporate Tax, and how to look through the trees to find the wood.
Join Caroline as she talks through the various expenses and benefits common throughout the higher education sector, and whether we can have expense policies and procedures that promote and align with university’s sustainability policies, that can also be tax efficient, or not be tax inefficient.
David and Steph join us at the tax conference to share some of the import issues they've come across in the post-Brexit world.
Another member-only session looking how we can effectively work with other teams in a more collaborative way, without risking a breakdown of communication or increasing risks to the university. We are joined by BUFDG Project Manager, Joni Rhodes who, with her research hat on, can help us understand the pressure points around universities and Julia Ascott, who (as an Employment Tax specialist) often has to sit between the finance and HR teams. Join this session to share your stories of effective and non-effective methods of working with teams that don’t speak the language of tax. How can we understand others to ensure the tax aspects can feed into larger projects without being the nay sayers or blockers we are often portrayed as.
You’ve discovered an employee in Nigeria, another team have just engaged 3 contractors working full time on your behalf in Singapore, then there are the whole team of researchers in California and a letter from the Belgian authorities saying you owe them social security as an employee has tried to access their health system. Where do you start? Susan Brown and Clare Jopson are here to give you their top tips on how to effectively triage your global mobility issues, what should probably take precedence and what your next steps are.
Jennifer and Chris give us an update on their experience of triaging online learning, sharing their experiences on how to decide which countries to review and which need to go through a VAT/GST registration process.
Join Chris, Amit and Neil as they share the ‘optimum’ systems upgrade project stages, common pitfalls and how to potentially avoid them, and discuss sticking with ‘standard’ system configuration Vs bespoking. Neil will share some key learnings from recent (aborted) systems upgrade and Chris and Amit will explain how automation can be leveraged, effectively, to complete the ‘last mile’ of a tax process, including a short demo on automation, from Knime.
It’s the wrap up from Andrea and Julia, plus what you’ve all been waiting for – who will scoop the awards? Click here if you haven’t already submitted your nominations.
The sessions will be recorded, uploaded to our website after the event (usually within a week) and available to conference delegates. The recordings will be available for 2 years.
If you have any questions about your booking please contact Gill
Tagged : Tax, Tax Conference
Type : Conference