Helen Wass

Helen Wass is a Managing Director at FTI Consulting and is part of the Life Sciences tax team, based in London. Helen has more than 20 years of experience working in finance and tax in-house roles in the pharmaceutical and life sciences industries.

Helen has a broad range of in-house experience in UK tax compliance and research and development (“R&D”) incentives, as well as VAT, employment tax and share options, transfer pricing and U.S. compliance. Prior to joining FTI Consulting, Helen worked at GSK, then at Vernalis plc, a pharmaceutical company with operations in the UK and the United States, where she was responsible for all taxes.

Helen joined FTI Consulting in 2019, and since joining has worked with a number of clients in the life science sector, providing ongoing assistance with R&D claims and UK tax compliance, as well as specific advice on licensing deals and other transactions. She focuses on providing pragmatic advice drawing on her experiences in-house.

Helen holds a B.Sc. with Honours in Biochemistry and Biological Chemistry from the University of Nottingham. She trained with KPMG and qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 1996.

Relevant Experience:

• Advising on R&D incentive claims under both the small and medium-sized enterprises (“SME”) and R&D expenditure credit (“RDEC”) scheme with deep relevant expertise in Life Sciences
• Advising on the tax implications for licensing and collaborations
• Providing ongoing tax reporting and compliance services to life science companies
• Performing tax due diligence for M&A and IPOs and related transaction support
• Providing guidance on the practical implementation of transfer pricing and intercompany processes
• Providing international tax advice on structuring and permanent establishments
• Dealing with HM Revenue & Customs enquiries