Member Article

Grant Thornton appoints tax risk specialist

Grant Thornton UK LLP’s tax team continues its growth and investment in specialisms with the appointment of tax risk management specialist, Sam Dean. Joining the firm as an associate director, Sam will support clients on all aspects of tax governance, including the Corporate Criminal Offence and Senior Accounting Officer regimes.

Sam joins the firm from HMRC where he gained over a decade of experience in the Specialist Investigation and Fraud Investigation Service, working on tackling offshore tax evasion and enablers of tax crime. Sam was the HMRC lead for the Corporate Criminal Offence of failing to prevent the facilitation of tax evasion since its introduction in September 2017 and led an international action group to help OECD countries develop their own approach.

Sam is a leading authority on Corporate Criminal Offence and, through keynote speeches, webinars, podcasts and journal articles, has become a trusted and leading voice in the UK’s economic fraud landscape. He was awarded Outstanding Young Professional at 2021 Tackling Economic Crime Awards (TECAs).

In his new role, Sam will support Grant Thornton’s 40-strong Midlands’ tax team based in Birmingham and Leicester. This team has been bolstered over the past 12 months by Rachel Parker’s move to become Lead Partner for Midlands Corporate Tax and Rob Outram’s appointment to the regional Head of VAT.

Nicola Haynes has also recently become the new lead for the Midlands’ customs duty practice. Nicola brings almost 40 years’ experience in customs duties and cross border trade to the role, in positions spanning HMRC, industry organisations and advisory firms.

Commenting on the appointment, Lee Holloway, Tax Partner, said: “Sam’s knowledge and expertise are hugely sought after, and so I’m delighted he chose to join us at Grant Thornton. Sam will be brilliant at supporting our clients on Corporate Criminal Offence work and providing insight into our wider tax risk and governance work. He joins the established Tax Risk Management team based across the UK and will work closely with the team to develop the tax risk offerings and tools.”

Sam Dean, Associate Director at Grant Thornton, said: “It was a big decision for me to leave HMRC and so I was very selective about my next move. The people from Grant Thornton that I met through my previous role were impressive and spoke highly of the firm, and the partners have been incredibly supportive. The opportunity to get involved in lots of exciting specialist areas that play to my strengths, was the icing on the cake. I’m really looking forward to working with the great people on the Grant Thornton team to develop market-leading corporate criminal offence and financial crime prevention offerings.”

Grant Thornton’s tax risk management specialists work across corporate, indirect and employment taxes and have a breadth of experience in different industries. The team works with clients to ensure their approach to tax creates and retains the trust of their customers and industry, as well as the Regulator.

Rachel Parker, Lead Partner for Midlands Corporate Tax, said: “The Midlands stands out as an exciting place for businesses, with many vibrant, dynamic and entrepreneurial firms eager to grow and expand. With such a breadth of expertise to call upon and being located in Leicester as well as in the heart of Birmingham at our new 103 Colmore Row office, our team is ideally situated to making sure the region’s businesses are backed with the advice and support they need at every step of their journey.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by John Robson .