Trailblazer: Youngest tax partner in local practice shines a light on career in accountancy

Rachel Pearce, a chartered tax adviser and Partner at local accounting firm Carpenter Box, is blazing a trail in what was historically a male-dominated industry. 

Aged just 33, she is the youngest member of the firm’s tax team at this senior level and a keen advocate of the benefits of a career in accountancy.

“I absolutely love my job,” says Rachel, who works in Carpenter Box’s Worthing office and lives in the town. “It is enormously rewarding being able to help businesses with their tax issues and ensure they don’t overpay because ultimately it improves their bottom line and helps our local economy flourish.”

Rachel’s career in financial services began at the age of 16 when she took a temporary job as an office junior at another accountancy business in Worthing, where she assisted her colleagues in delivering various services to clients. 

She enjoyed it so much she became an accounting apprentice at the same firm, and studied hard for 4 years with a weekly day release for college to gain her Chartered Tax Advisor (CTA) qualifications.

Rachel’s firm rewarded her with a tax manager position, assigning her to a multitude of partner-managed clients and setting her to work on tax compliance and planning issues.

Soon though, Rachel decided she needed a fresh challenge and landed an interview with Carpenter Box’s head of tax, Stuart Noakes, joining the firm in 2011.

“Stuart is still Head of Tax today and over the years he has been an enormous inspiration and mentor to me,” Rachel explained. “At first I was just supporting Stuart with his clients and there was a learning curve as I broadened my skillset and gained experience, but I quickly branched out to assisting other partners at the firm.”

Rachel was promoted to associate in 2016, taking on her own clients to grow, develop and nurture – something she says represented a major career milestone.

At this time Rachel was working four days a week, to allow for childcare commitments, and Carpenter Box encouraged her to work flexibly and recognised her burgeoning talents.  

After this, Rachel’s progress through the firm was meteoric as she took on more and more responsibilities. These include managing other team members, setting and hitting key performance indicators (KPIs), marketing and sourcing new business, as well as overarching client strategy. 

She earned promotion to tax director in 2018 and was made tax partner in 2021 at just 31 – an incredible achievement. Now 33, Rachel is still the youngest of six tax partners at the firm, and the second youngest overall.

Rachel now has overall responsibility for a team of tax advisers in Carpenter Box’s Worthing office and runs the advisory department. She manages the firm’s training programme for tax apprentices, interviewing and selecting the best candidates, and encouraging them in their career development.  

Rachel added: “I encourage all young people to consider a career in tax and financial services generally, it is very rewarding. There is a huge variety of work and the opportunity to meet and help lots of different people. Having an analytical mind and being a good people person is a good start. The key is to find a modern firm with a strong set of values, good training programme and a supportive culture.” 

Rachel also helps make major strategic decisions for the firm as part of a committee with its 17 other partners, who represent a cross section of services including accounting, corporate finance, audit and assurance, payroll and private client. 

“Over the last few years, we have seen enormous growth at Carpenter Box, with the firm nearly doubling in size to over 200 people and investing in major IT and infrastructure enhancements to ensure its client offering is second to none,” she said. 

“However, it still feels like a close-knit family team, and I feel completely aligned to the firm’s overall vision and objectives.”

Tax advice and accounting are traditional financial services and, historically, the sector was overwhelmingly male-dominated. But this has already changed according to Rachel, at least as far as Carpenter Box is concerned. 

She says the gender balance at the firm overall, which has always prided itself on being forward-thinking, diverse and inclusive, is roughly equal. And that opportunities for the right candidates are there for the taking.

In April Carpenter Box promoted no less than 12 women to different positions in the firm ranging from tax managers, associates (fee-earning roles) and directors to credit control and support staff. 

Stuart Noakes, Head of Tax at Carpenter Box, said of Rachel: “I have enjoyed working with Rachel in the tax advisory team at Carpenter Box since 2011. She has a wealth of experience in so many areas of tax, including an exceptional amount of knowledge around tax planning for owner-managed businesses and investors. Rachel is a real asset to the tax team and the firm.”

Away from work, Rachel enjoys her life in the seaside town of Worthing and says it is a fantastic place both to work and live. 

Carpenter Box, which provides a wide range of financial services, also has offices in Gatwick, Brighton and Chichester, which serve businesses in their local areas and beyond.

Planning for recent tax changes

Maintaining the stability of the UK through the coronavirus pandemic has resulted in enormous economic costs; and inflation is only expected to increase the Government’s debt.

The Office for Budget Responsibility has indicated that the Treasury will need to find £45bn in interest, before even considering paying off the debt itself. But it will be the taxpayers who will be providing this extra cash!

Extra costs this year

• Income tax: The Chancellor is not directly increasing the rates of income tax that we pay. However, the basic and higher rate threshold will be frozen from April 2022 to April 2026. Essentially, this means that the amount we pay is rising as inflation increases wages.

• National Insurance: A 1.25% contribution has been added to both employee and employer National Insurance from April 2022, as well as a similar additional charge on dividends. This is also known as the Health and Social Care Levy and from April 2023, this will be applied to employees above the state pension age.

The Treasury has also announced a number of consultations which could all mean extra costs. For example, there will be increased scrutiny on those who are self-employed, or recently became a landlord who will be expected to report a new venture even before it turns a taxable profit. There could also be an increasing pressure for collecting tax sooner –whilst this is still just a consultation at this stage, the government is understandably keen to raise funds quickly.

These changes mean that the onus is on you to ensure that you are not paying too much tax – and there are two key areas to look at:

1.Are you claiming all of your allowances?

Whilst the majority of us rely on HMRC to inform us of what we owe, HMRC are only human and sometimes make mistakes. For example, if your income has fluctuated over the past few months, you may have forgotten an allowance or two.

It can be well worth reviewing your tax return. If you do find errors, there is a straightforward way to query them. HMRC has an established and efficient appeals system.

2. Can you reduce your tax liabilities?

If your current assessment is correct, you might wish to take a more proactive approach to reducing your tax. It could be time to:

• Maximise your pension contributions to make full use of tax relief

• Make yourself a detailed pension forecast – to see the effect your changes will have

• Make full use of your ISA entitlements

• For Shareholder/Directors, consider the timing of bonuses and dividends to mitigate the planned 1.25% rate increase

• Look at Salary Sacrifice arrangements which can be particularly effective in mitigating income tax and National Insurance Contributions

We recommend you carry out an annual review of your financial affairs, in order to check that you are not paying more tax than you need to and whether the structures you set up in the past are still correct.

How can we help?

The personal circumstances of each individual must be taken into account when you are deciding whether a particular plan is suitable or advantageous. We hope that these suggestions give you some ideas and we would also be happy to discuss them with you in more detail.

Our team can also provide a full tax review which will help identify the marginal tax traps waiting for you – and help you to avoid them! 

If you are unsure as to whether you are making the most of your tax allowances or how you can reduce your tax liabilities, get in touch with one of our tax team on 01903 234094 or visit carpenterbox.com