UK accounting and advisory firm S&W has named Harinder Soor as a partner in its London business tax practice, joining from Alvarez & Marsal, an appointment that matters broadly because it adds senior capacity at a firm rebuilding its specialist tax bench after its 2025 private equity-backed separation from Evelyn Partners, and matters specifically to accountancy professionals because it lands just as UK capital allowances rules have shifted materially in 2026, with the main pool writing down allowance cut and a new first-year allowance extended to leasing businesses for the first time.

S&W is a UK top ten accountancy and advisory firm, formed in 2025 when private equity firm Apax Partners acquired Evelyn Partners' professional services division, now operating from 15 locations across the UK, Republic of Ireland and Channel Islands with around 1,800 staff and more than 120 partners.

Soor specialises in capital allowances and tax incentives, bringing around 25 years of experience advising on major capital investments across energy, transport, infrastructure, construction and real estate. He spent more than two decades at KPMG as an equity partner heading its UK capital allowances division, before moving to Alvarez & Marsal.

The timing is not incidental. From April 2026, the main pool writing down allowance fell from 18 to 14 per cent, while a new 40 per cent first-year allowance introduced in January 2026 extended accelerated relief to leasing businesses and unincorporated entities that full expensing had previously excluded entirely.

Navigating those changes correctly, choosing between full expensing, the annual investment allowance and the new first-year allowance by asset type, is precisely the specialist work Soor's background addresses for clients running large capital programmes.

The hire also fits a wider pattern at S&W since its 2025 separation, following the firm's earlier appointments of Chris Hemsley to economic advisory and Pamela Collie to corporate and international tax, signalling a deliberate rebuild of specialist tax capability under new ownership.

For the sector, the appointment underlines that regulatory complexity in capital allowances has become a genuine growth line for mid-market firms, not just a compliance cost passed on to clients.

Source: International Accounting Bulletin / Protax