Who We Are

Judy Masters – Partner

Judy was an officer of VAT at Customs and Excise before leaving to join Jerry in KPMG where she remained for 7 years. She joined Ernst & Young and became a member of a highly successful VAT team in Cambridge. She was finally headhunted by PriceWaterhouseCoopers to join the Special Project Team as a Senior Manager. Judy has been involved in the Education Sector  for over 10 years but is also heavily involved in the Construction, Leisure and Development Industry, Research Institutes Ecclesiastical and heavier Industries. Judy also has a wealth of experience in training and lecturing.Judy has been Secretary to the VAT Practitioners Group East Anglia Chapter for the last 5 years.

Jerry Dale – Partner

After 18 years in Customs and Excise Jerry left to set up a VAT team at KPMG, then moved to join Ernst and Young where he was a  Senior Manager for 5 years. He was finally headhunted by PriceWaterhouseCoopers to lead a Special Projects team specialising in high value VAT projects. Jerry specialises in the Local Authority sector, Education Sector, Registered Social Landlords, Insurance Sector, Fraud Investigation, Motor Trade, Rag Trade and the Retail Sector but has a wealth of experience in all aspects of VAT and other Indirect Taxes.

Tracy Andrews - Partner

Tracy began her VAT career with H M Customs & Excise (now H M Revenue & Customs – HMRC) in 1991, before joining Ernst & Young in 1994, where she spent six years. In 2000, she left to take up a managerial position with PriceWaterhouseCoopers in the VAT Special Projects Team.

In 2001, Tracy took up a position in industry with a leading household insurer based in East Anglia. She spent five years there before returning to practice with Ernst & Young in early 2006, in a Senior Manager role.

During her career, Tracy has worked with a variety of clients, ranging from public sector to large multinational corporations including, but not limited to, those in the printing and publishing, food and financial services sectors, on a range of complex VAT issues including partial exemption, focussing on planning opportunities and addressing risk and compliance concerns. Tracy also has a wealth of experience in providing training and addressing seminars and forums.

Richard Mann – Consultant

Richard has recently joined Elysian Associates from a Leisure Trust based in Suffolk. Here Richard had been involved in the setting up of the new Leisure Trust as its Business and Finance Manager. Prior to this Richard has spent most of his career working in Local Authorities and has spent 25 years focussing on Capital, Treasury Management, VAT and a wide range of revenue budget areas. Specifically he has been involved in capital projects, housing stock transfers, various grant aided initiatives and project management. Richard has also covered all aspects of an Authorities VAT including partial exemption and land and property issues. Richard is a Member of the Association of Accounting Technicians.

Peter Hore – Associate

Peter Hore is an eminent European and UK VAT expert, having dealt with VAT at the highest levels in the EU and UK over the last 20 years.
Over the last decade, he has been responsible for all the indirect affairs of Aviva plc.
In addition, over that time he has held industry leading roles, such as:

• Chair of ABI Indirect Tax Panel from 2002 to Dec 2006
• Member of ABI Indirect Tax Panel from Nov 1998 to Feb 2010
• Deputy Chair of ABI Indirect Tax Panel from 2002 to 2002

Peter is also UK & EU Media trained, having given interviews and articles on VAT

John Harling – Employment Tax Associate

John has more than 20 years’ experience of working with public sector bodies in all aspects of PAYE, National Insurance and benefits in kind. He previously worked as an Inland Revenue PAYE Auditor before spending 15 years working in the “Big 4”specialising in advising local authorities, housing associations, NHS bodies and the education sector. John has vast experience in employment tax and related areas, such as HMRC Employer Compliance reviews, PAYE/NIC health checks, employments status issues, termination payments, employment cost reduction and the Construction Industry Scheme. He has a BSc (Hons) in Economics from University College, Cardiff.

Robin Woodhouse – Associate

Robin has over 30 years’ experience advising clients in both the private and public sectors in all aspects of UK employment taxation. As well as tax compliance, he has considerable experience of cost-saving initiatives such as salary sacrifice and flexible benefits. He was one of the pioneers of salary replacement schemes in Universities and continues to provide specialist advice to the education sector. Prior to joining Elysian, Robin had held senior positions with the Big 4 accountancy firms in London and East Anglia.

Les Howard – Associate

Les has been involved in VAT since 1983.He worked for HM Customs & Excise (as it then was) for 3½ years, before moving to a Management Consultancy Business; to establish and run their VAT Consultancy division. He left that business at the end of 1993.Since January 1994 he has worked as a freelance VAT Consultant. He has dealt with a wide variety of VAT issues over the years, contributing to Butterworth’s DeVoil Indirect Tax Service, and to Croner CCH’s VAT Digest Service. Les specializes in the provision of advice to Churches, Places of Worship and Charities. He also provides training in VAT through Central Law Training. For a long time he was a member of the East Anglia Chapter of the VAT Practitioners Group, which brings together VAT specialists from accountancy practices and industry. Les has recently been appointed as a part time Chairman of the VAT and Duties Tribunal.

Linda Whyte – Associate

Linda spent 9 years at HM Revenue and Customs where she had a dual role as a VAT Training Manager/Classroom Trainer and a Senior Assurance Officer. She then moved to Ernst & Young and PricewaterhouseCoopers, joining the Special Projects Team, and has been with Elysian from the very beginning.
She has amassed an impressive knowledge of the education, charitable, construction and land and property sectors. Linda uses this expertise to develop technical arguments for submission to HMRC and to analyse complex legal documentation for VAT issues.
Linda is a qualified and highly experienced classroom instructor and works with clients to produce and deliver bespoke VAT training packages. She also facilitates developmental training covering a wide spectrum of training environments and disciplines such as “life-career change”.