Karen leads the Yorkshire and North East Tax Assurance & Risk Management and Tax Disputes Resolution practices, as well as supporting clients with wider corporate tax compliance and advisory matters. Karen has a wide variety of client relationships ranging from individuals, trusts, partnerships, privately-owned and private equity-backed business to listed and large multi-national corporates in the region.

Karen specialises in assisting taxpayers in relation to tax risk, whether in response to HMRC enquiries or prompted issues, or in a proactive way to manage and minimise tax risk to support strong tax governance. The proactive side includes work across Senior Accounting Officer compliance, HMRC’s Business Risk review process, the Publication of Tax Strategy and Uncertain Tax Treatments regimes, the Corporate Criminal Offences legislation, and looking at the effectiveness of a tax function and the tax control environment on a UK and global basis. On the reactive side Karen’s support for clients includes complex HMRC enquiries (including Code of Practice 8 and 9 investigations), voluntary disclosures, appeals, litigation and expert witness services.

Karen builds trusted relationships founded on quality, and more widely advises clients on a range of tax issues, transactions, restructuring and developments across the taxes, aligning advice to the needs of each client and their personal/commercial agenda. Karen is active in relation to HMRC consultations as they relate to tax risk, most recently leading BDO’s interaction with HMRC in relation to the ‘Notification of Uncertain Tax Treatment by Large Businesses’ requirement.