Old Mill is continuing its drive to become the fastest growing practice in the region with the appointment of highly experienced tax specialist David Gage as Partner and Head of VAT.
In November 2021, Old Mill announced plans to double the size of the business by 2026, and David – who joins from Evelyn Partners where he was Director of VAT – has been brought on board to support these growth ambitions by expanding Old Mill’s services both to existing clients and the wider market.
The 38-year-old who was a management consultant before moving into tax in 2012, says he believes his commercial background combined with his tax expertise can help raise Old Mill’s profile across a wider range of client firms.
David said: “VAT is a complicated area of tax, and the compliance requirements are becoming more and more stringent. As a result, most small and medium sized accountancy firms don’t have the relevant expertise, while the larger practices are putting all their resources into their bigger clients, leaving a huge number of underserviced businesses in the area.
“I believe Old Mill can fill that gap by offering the client-centric, tailored and personal approach you’d expect from a small family firm combined with the expertise you generally only find in large practices. I want to build on the impressive growth that Old Mill has achieved over the past year to expand our client base and scale up our services to serve more clients, across existing and new markets.”
As well as being CTA qualified (Chartered Tax Advisor), David has a degree in business and management and a Masters in European business. From a VAT perspective he specialises in high value land and property transactions and international goods and services. David also has particular knowledge and experience in VAT compliance, including tax investigations, having been called upon to offer his expert opinion in VAT inspections and fraud investigations, along with VAT professional negligence claims, on numerous occasions.
David, who has a seven-year-old son and lives in Bristol, says while Old Mill’s ambitious growth plans were a big pull, he was impressed by the firm’s people-centric culture and its refreshing approach to career development:
David said: “Not only does Old Mill have an excellent reputation in the market, and great ambition – which was a hugely attractive proposition – but also, a really refreshing approach to leadership and personal development. Our Director of Tax, David Maslen is a very people-focussed, collaborative leader, who encourages his team to bring new ideas to the table and follow their own professional passions. This not only makes for a highly motivated team, but naturally ensures there is a very broad range of knowledge there too.
David Maslen, Director of Tax said: “2022 was a hugely successful year for the tax team, we doubled in size to 36, which includes the appointment of a number of senior hires, including Chris Watts as Associate Director in September. We now start 2023 as we mean to go on with the appointment of David Gage as Partner and Head of VAT.
“David’s extensive experience across complex tax matters – including his expertise within high value property transactions, tax investigations and international trade – will further enhance our offering to clients, while his commercial background and ambition to bring Old Mill to businesses that may not have considered us before will be vital in our drive to become the fastest growing practice in the southwest.”
