Jie Su looks after a varied portfolio of clients in different sectors including authors and retail businesses. Originally from China, she settled in the UK in 2011, and is the primary point of contact for Chinese speaking clients who require advice on UK based property and business investments. Jie is a member of ACCA and is currently studying towards her CTA qualification.
What is your role at HW Fisher?
Assistant Manager in Private Client.
How did you begin your career, and what led you to specialise in private client work, particularly with inward UK investors?
I originally worked in the Business Solutions department, where my main responsibilities included preparing company accounts, corporation tax returns and VAT returns. In 2019, I accompanied two Tax partners to the Far East to assist them in the expansion of our Asia market. During the trip there were lots of back to back meetings with both existing clients and potential new clients and I learnt a lot from the experience. Upon my return and with my interests piqued, I requested to be moved to the Private Client department to specialise in private client work, providing tax advice and help individuals to plan ahead and save tax. I enjoy helping our clients, and the increasing demand from individuals from Asia investing in the UK makes it even more interesting.
You are the firm’s primary point of contact for Chinese speaking clients who require advice on UK based property and business investments. Tell us what this work involves.
We provide advice to Asia-based clients on investing in the UK, this includes advice for those wishing to acquire their first investment property, clients with large investment portfolios and clients expanding their businesses in the UK and/or immigrating to the UK. We have to understand the difficulties our clients may encounter when entering the UK market; from cultural barriers of doing business, communication issues and navigating local rules and regulations.
We also provide compliance work, by understanding our clients’ needs, we try to provide advice and assistance from the very beginning to the end of the process, and ensure their tax affairs are being well looked after.
Our work doesn’t stop there; we also travel to Asia frequently to engage our clients and potential clients, making our knowledge and expertise more accessible to them in the form of seminars and face-to-face meetings.
Tell us about some of the top trends you have been following in the past year – is there something that inward investors should be aware of?
There’s an increasing trend for Hong Kong citizens to move to the UK due to the national security law introduced last year in June. This prompted millions of Hong Kong residents to consider the opportunity to move to the UK and eventually seek citizenship. Despite the unfortunate circumstances, it has presented HW Fisher with an unexpected opportunity. We have seen a large wave of tax advice enquiries, regarding UK property investments to those wishing to immigrate to the UK and our responsibility has never been greater, with our advice potentially having a direct impact on individuals (and even families) decision to immigrate or not.
We strongly recommend the inward investors to seek professional tax advice including personal and corporate tax planning before their move to the UK due to the complexity of the tax system in the UK.
What has been the greatest lesson you have learned working with clients through Covid-19?
I have learnt the art of picking your battles, to accept that there are things beyond your control and to focus on the things that you can have a positive impact on.
Our plans to travel to the Far East were cancelled due to Covid-19. Providing face to face services, which our clients usually appreciated, was no longer feasible, however, we adapted to the change and responded quickly by assisting them remotely by providing online seminars and webinars.
What is one piece of advice you would give to clients seeking advice on UK investments at the moment?
Advanced planning is key, proper tax planning before making any decisions should be a vital step in the process, and ensures that they can make well-informed decisions, and avoid potential hefty tax bills or compliance issues. Tax-advice is a cost that will pay dividends in the long-run.
What are your goals for your area of the business over the next 12 months?
I am very proud that we have recently launched our Chinese landing page and I hope our services can be accessible to the ever-widening Asia market. To provide potential clients an introduction to the intricate UK tax system, and also introduce ourselves as a potential resource in their future investment needs.
Tell us something about you that might surprise people?
To keep passionate and enthusiastic in my career, I believe it is key to enjoy what you are doing, or eventually you will struggle to progress. My secret is to link my personality to what I am doing, and be yourself. My enjoyment of communicating with people and pride in providing professional services keeps me happy at work. The more challenging the work, the more interesting I find it.
What is the best piece of advice you have ever received?
‘Accuracy is everything’. In our line of work, accuracy is not only useful, it is essential as the repercussions of any error can potentially have devastating effects both for the client and also the firm’s reputation. It is always my aim to get things right first time, every time.
Find out more about our premium advisory services for inward UK investors, or contact Jie for any queries.
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