A SPECIALIST VAT service is being launched by a York firm of chartered accountants and business advisers.

The service is being started by HPH Chartered Accountants, Bootham, with the appointment of its first head of VAT services, Ian Spencer, who has more than 20 years’ VAT experience, both as an inspector and in private practice.

The move follows the practice’s launch of a wealth management service this spring, in an alliance with independent financial advisers Pearson Jones Plc.

Mr Spencer spent eight years as a VAT inspector in the HM Customs & Excise, and was also a staff trainer and involved in pilot schemes for VAT assurance and evasion detection.

Since leaving HM Customs & Excise he has spent time as a VAT manager at national practices KPMG and PricewaterhouseCoopers, in Leeds and Sheffield, and with a specialist VAT consultancy.

Mr Spencer plans to hold VAT clinics and workshops in York and Harrogate, and the firm hopes he can also become a York-based resource for professionals such as lawyers and property consultants. He said: “VAT is becoming ever more complex and there are significant penalties if businesses get it wrong.

“A failure to spot opportunities can also mean that VAT costs can be incurred unnecessarily and, as the tax is transactional, there is no retrospective remedy.”