Matt Spencer

Matt specialises in tax law with a focus on corporate, real estate, employment and the public sector.

Matt has over 9 years’ experience advising clients across a range of sectors. His key clients include technology companies, IT service providers, consultancy companies, several of the country’s largest house builders and landlords, NHS Commissioners and local authorities.

Matt regularly advises on general corporate issues including advising buyers and sellers on mergers and acquisitions. Matt also advises on real estate issues, including the structuring of acquisitions and developments, as well as employment tax issues and issues specific to the public sector such as VAT recoverability or joint venture structuring. Matt has a particular interest in helping clients to implement and maintain tax efficient employee incentives. Matt’s unique skill is his combination of approachability and down to earth, pragmatic and clear advice in complex situations.

Relevant experience includes advising:

• 4Most Group Holdings Limited on its creation of an Employee Share Ownership Trust (together with the sale of a majority of shareholder shares to the Trust). Relatively few such trusts exist and it has created a stable, tax efficient and incentivising staff ownership structure similar to the John Lewis model. Matt helped 4Most create a bespoke EMI incentive scheme to help further incentivise staff.
• CloudCoCo Group plc (known as Adept4 PLC at the time) on its acquisition of CloudCoCo Limited, including the simultaneous exercise of tax advantaged share options.
• A public health body on the VAT consequences of a new operating structure, including complex issues around VAT chargeability (important given the scale of VAT at stake and the fact VAT would be a true cost)
• A private company on the tax consequences of its intentions for a new lease and construction of its new HQ, including navigating VAT complications that could have added an irrecoverable seven figure cost to the project.
• A high net worth individual on the acquisition of high value residential property, structuring the transaction to reduce tax by a seven figure sum and then successfully arguing for beneficial tax treatment in respect of a number of ancillary taxes saving the client a further several hundred thousand pounds.

Matt is a chartered tax adviser, the gold standard in tax. A house builder client noted ”you got us out of a bit of a tricky situation on this one” when Matt removed a very substantial VAT cost from a joint development structure and secured HMRC’s approval.

Matt is a chartered tax adviser. Matt regularly lectures to clients and colleagues and publishes articles through the firm.