Ian Piper (Ely)

As an experienced chartered accountant, Ian heads up the business client division at our Ely office, where he is a resident partner. He helps clients run, improve and exit their SME businesses. As a self-confessed 'techie', he has developed a particular interest towards tech companies.

Outside of work, now that his rugby playing days are behind him, he tries to stay fit through running and kayaking.

Specialisms

Technology

Corporate Finance

Tax Planning

My Latest Blogs

Ian Piper

28th May 2019 Tax Havens: Countries still on the tax ‘Naughty Step’

It will probably be apparent to the casual observer, let alone the business owner or high net worth individual, that the tax climate has changed markedly over the last 10 years. As part of the raft of measures to tackle austerity within western developed nations, with the aim of collecting higher tax revenues, governments have…

Ian Piper

9th April 2019 R&D Tax Relief: HMRC Try to Tackle Abuse

Many companies, not just those in the tech industry, will have benefitted from the generosity of R&D tax relief. Eligible R&D expenditure can be inflated by a notional 230% uplift, and a refund of tax claimed on tax that was never paid in the first place. Perhaps not unsurprisingly, HMRC have identified abuses of…

Ian Piper

18th January 2019 CryptoCurrency Taxation: HMRC close loophole?

HMRC are not known for being ahead of the curve, so trying to find official guidance on how exchange gains from selling bitcoin, and other crypto currencies, is expected to be self-assessed and taxed, was always going to be ‘problematic’. At the time of first researching this, the latest HMRC guidance was published in 3…

Ian Piper

19th December 2018 A Taxing Christmas?

Business owners, like the rest of us, will be all too aware that Christmas is a ‘challenging’ time. A short working month usually means less production, less sales and less payments from customers. Add to this cost of staff Christmas bonuses, various festive jollies and large tax bills just around the corner in January, and…

Ian Piper

19th November 2018 Draft Brexit Agreement: What’s all the fuss about?

So now that we can finally see what Brexit might mean in reality, with the publication of the Draft Brexit Agreement, everyone is still unhappy. After much talk about what we wanted, which was leaving the EU club, whilst cherry-picking retention of access to the Single Market and a borderless border in Ireland, it has…

Ian Piper

30th October 2018 Budget 2018: What’s in it for TechCo’s

Philip Hammond’s much predicted ‘End to Austerity’ Budget was a lot more positive than similar pronouncements of recent years. Although UK growth is still sluggish (predicted at 1.6% for 2018), higher than expected tax revenues have enabled the public purse strings to be loosened. Announcements that will be of interest to technology SME’s include: New…

Ian Piper

26th September 2018 TechCos: Preserve ER with new tax election

Those companies that continually go through funding rounds, such as your typical techco start-up, should be aware that HMRC are introducing a new tax election wef 6-Apr-19: Proposed legislation contained within the Finance Bill 2018 This election will allow shareholders who hold at least 5% of the company on 6 April 2019, and who are…

Ian Piper

4th September 2018 Preserving your business income

It’s the holiday season, many will have recently been or soon be travelling abroad. As well as marvelling at the sights, we will also be struck by how these countries are run, and compare them to life back in home. It is easy to be jealous of: State pension levels in Sweden Police numbers on…

Ian Piper

23rd May 2018 EMI Share Options: EU waives opportunity to ‘be difficult’.

Tech companies that have a business plan of developing a new product, with the aim of an eventual trade sale or IPO exit, will be very familiar with EMI share options. These options give generous personal tax breaks, to help recruit, retain and reward middle management and key workers. Under generic EU principles, such tax…

Ian Piper

15th March 2018 Chancellor’s Spring Statement: As it affects TechCo’s

As we all get used to the Chancellor’s main Budget now being in the Autumn, he still chose to make a few policy announcements in his Spring Statement yesterday. Items of interest to those running technology companies included: Stagnant growth. Despite the ‘Light at the end of the tunnel’ strapline for his speech, the…

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Ian Piper (Ely)

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