Making a decision based on poor advice in the midst of a painful and stressful divorce to become involved in a disguised remuneration scheme led one divorcee to call on Sarah Woodall’s tax expertise to help her to resolve tax difficulties.

In order to achieve some stability and security for her family, she had considered various options, but was advised to take part in a scheme which involved moving money overseas through tax havens, avoiding the need to pay stamp duty land tax (SDLT) on a property in the UK as part of the arrangement.

She found herself, having taken professional advice, facing a £700,000 tax bill with interest and penalties.

Suffering already from mental health problems because of the particularly complex and difficult divorce she was going through, she came to Sarah for help with her tax problems.

Sarah said: “We looked at the quality of advice she had been given, her circumstances and her state of mind; there was no way round it – she took part in a disguised remuneration scheme and we dealt with that upfront.

“With discussion and some shared information, I was able to reduce that claim from £700,000 to less than £300,000. She is now recovering somewhat from the divorce and she does have the security she sought.”