About the firm

The firm is run by Steve Watt, who has spent time in London and Paris in practice and in industry. He also grew and ran as owner-manager an IT business in France with a turnover of £2m, writing some commercially successful programs himself. He worked for Deloitte and for PWC in Paris after qualifying. He passed his professional exams in three years, taking the final exams of both the CIOT (Chartered Institute of Taxation) and the ICAEW (Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales) in the same month - slightly unusual as the tax exams are usually taken some years later. He became a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Taxation in March 2014 following acceptance of his thesis on "Contrasts in Taxation of the Entrepreneur in France and the UK".

He went to Alleyn's School - a hard school to get into (and out of) and then off to Exeter University for a degree in Pure Maths and Theoretical Physics.

A keen follower of commercial markets, stock markets and housing markets over many years he relies on economic ideas he learnt in life which he sometimes discuss with his brother Peter Watt, an economist, who usually informs him his theory has already been discovered.

He has observed many talented people and has learnt how easily people make costly mistakes. Often enthusiasm, self-belief, talent and originality conspire to produce them. Business is full of opportunities in this area. Sometimes people come into money and blow it all on a business that fails - instead they could have had some nice holidays or bought a new car.

If you are in business you may not always be able to afford to discuss plans in detail with an professional adviser. Here it is free to discuss business plans in confidentiality.


Paying lots of tax helps the government, helps reduce taxes for other taxpayers and implies you are making lots of money, (although not all taxes are related to money-making). Perhaps the simplest way to reduce your tax liability is to pay off your tax bill. The answer to the paradox of wishing to minimise taxes which are generally proportional to profits is to have a goal of achieving the best possible wealth after all taxes have been dealt with.

However we are in a world where the government necessarily sets tax rules and rates to discount the feverish activity of the earning population to optimise, plan, arrange and even bend the rules in order to reduce their tax bill.

Mitigating taxes is an exercise in forward planning since past events that determine taxes do not give rise to a choice of tax treatments. Some argue that improving their tax position is an aspect of their overall competitivity. There is a small industry dealing with tax mitigation advice. Competitors are using these services and the tax rates, rules and exemptions already allow for this shrinkage of tax revenues.

So it can be worth contacting us, remembering that having your tax affairs dealt with promptly and competently can give peace of mind in this serious and complex area. The compliance aspect of our tax work means keeping your tax affairs in order, accurately, fairly, cost-effectively and on time. We also do all the accounting work which beside providing tax figures will enable you to monitor the performance of your business.