Sarah Scala

Sarah acts as a consultant to ETC Tax, working with the team to advise on tax disputes matters.

“I am at my professional best when supporting distressed clients, who have lost all hope of their situation improving, to see light at the end of the tunnel. “

Life before ETC

I am originally from Wolverhampton but consider the Northwest as home. I went to the University of Manchester, have spent my entire professional career there and got married in Manchester City Centre. Working with ETC is therefore perfect for me and I bring with me twenty years of working in tax, assisting clients from all walks of life with any form of HMRC dispute.

Why a career in tax?

I am the eldest of five, from humble beginnings and at a young age I decided that a degree in Mathematics and Statistics and then a career in tax, including becoming a member of the Chartered Institute of Taxation, could give me the security I needed. For me that determination paid off and I am at my professional best when supporting distressed clients, who have lost all hope of their situation improving, to see light at the end of the tunnel.

My best (and worst) bits

I am a people person, which makes it easier for me to prosper in a business with a non-recurring workstream and it means that I am always developing because I surround myself with technically excellent professionals and am always looking out for people to add to my network. One of my proudest professional achievements is founding The Contentious Tax Group, it has brough together tax disputes professional across the UK in a big way and I am excited about how we might be able to influence HMRC and UK government to better support taxpayers.

I can easily get frustrated by those who are less organised than me and individuals who lack commerciality, many of whom can be found at HMRC.

Three words to describe ETC

Welcoming and collaborative

Alternative career choice

I am naturally an arty type. I have practised yoga regularly for over twenty years, have become quite a skilled knitter and learned Italian at night school as an adult becoming one of the best non-native Italian speakers to have never lived in Italy, even if I do say so myself! So, what does that leave me with as an alternative career choice? Teaching yoga in Italy on yoga mats hand knitted by me?