Belastingconsulentennummer

Saturday's post at the office containted a letter from the Dutch Inland Revenue allocating a belastingconsulentennummer to us, which is the full authority to undertake the preparation of all Dutch Tax returns and to correspond with the Dutch Inland Revenue.

This all came about though some work we do for a major Scottish oil support company, who asked us to get involved in some pretty complex international tax matters, and the service has expanded from there.

HIE are fully aware of the importance of financial and business services to the Highland and Islands, but seem to limit their attention to (big) call centres of one description or another. That is losing sight of how smaller businesses can provide tremendous growth in skills and services in rural areas. Witness our recent employment of a graduate to add to our staff, and the looming need for yet another.....

Over the past six months we have been acquiring an average of 2 new clients a week from our specialist services, and I have somehow got us to number one in the Google rankings for these niche areas. Virtually all these clients are from outside Scotland, with a large percentage from outside the UK.

Sample recent question: I am a UK ex-pat living in Spain but working in Norway for a UK based company. In which country do I have a National Insurance liability?

That - believe it or not - is what passes for fun for us accountants.