BUSINESS TAX

We provide tax advice across the “lifecycle” of a business including: 

•  the most appropriate business structure (sole trader, LLP, company etc.)
• SEIS and EIS investment funding
•  tax-efficient ways of remunerating directors, partners and employees
• EMI and other share option/planning arrangements
• R&D tax credits and other business reliefs
•  Retirement, family successions or exit planning

We take care of your business tax compliance obligations, whether these include partnership, sole trader and corporate tax returns, advising on payment due dates and how much to pay.

As a registered tax agent, we can communicate directly with HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) on your behalf, obtaining advance clearance for potentially uncertain transactions and providing advice and support if you find yourself the subject of an HMRC investigation.

The tax law regarding treatment of income and what expenses can be treated as deductible for corporation tax can be complicated. It is our job to make sure you adopt the tax treatment that you are entitled to, and to flag up possibilities for saving corporation tax at every opportunity. We have a very experienced corporation tax team who understand the key tax issues that affect SME businesses, how HMRC can be expected to address these, and how best to ensure compliance in light of HMRC’s increasingly harsh enquiry and penalty regime.

We act for companies operating at all levels (from start-ups to large groups) and in a broad range of sectors.

With ever changing income tax rates and an increasingly complicated tax regime applying to partnerships, it is important to seek advice as to whether the partnership is structured as tax efficiently as it can be. If you trade as a Limited Liability Partnership or a traditional, unincorporated partnership, we will give you comfort that you are maximising your post tax income.

We are experts in advising business owners on how to ensure they can obtain maximum advantage from the very beneficial Entrepreneurs’ Relief rate of tax. We can advise you on how to structure your business ventures to ensure tax advantaged treatment on investment through Enterprise Investment Schemes and to take advantage of Research & Development tax credits to help fund your business. We will encourage you to look at the most tax efficient ways of incentivising your key employees, including utilising Enterprise Management Incentive options and similar reward structures.

When the time is right for you to sell your business, careful tax planning is absolutely vital to a smooth and successful exit. Acquirers are understandably nervous of taking on potential tax liabilities and our thorough pre-sale tax reviews ensure that any issues are addressed, as far as possible, at an early stage.

When a business sale is achieved, many owners are not aware that they are potentially creating a large future inheritance tax problem: in these circumstances, we have a range of experience to draw upon to advise you on the ways in which you can mitigate your inheritance tax liability, including in advance of any transaction.

We always make sure that our clients understand how the very generous R&D tax credit regime can provide significant financial assistance to help start-up businesses fund their early years and established businesses support the development of new products and services.

A common misconception is that R&D tax relief is only available for scientific research carried out in a laboratory. This is definitely not the case and we have many years’ experience of making successful claims for clients operating in a very broad range of industries. In an ever changing, increasingly automated, world, you should think carefully about whether you can take advantage of the R&D tax credit regime to help you prepare your business for the future.

Patent Box (PB) relief offers tax savings for companies that have made significant investment into intellectual property. We can help you establish whether you can qualify for the PB regime and navigate the implementation of a PB compliant structure.

VAT is a major source of revenue for the government and accordingly HMRC devotes significant resource to scrutinising businesses’ compliance with the VAT regime. It is often one of the most complex areas of tax because the VAT rules have been re-interpreted piecemeal by court decisions over the last 40 plus years, resulting in very similar transactions sometimes being treated differently for VAT purposes.

VAT is an area of tax that at times even HMRC inspectors struggle to understand and we have found from experience that it is always worth considering a challenge to an HMRC ruling where a matter is not clear cut.

We can guide you through any VAT queries you may have and provide you with hands on assistance if you are faced with an HMRC VAT inspection or a more detailed investigation.

If you are faced with the worry of an HMRC corporation tax, PAYE or income tax enquiry, we can help you. Our specialists will support you throughout the process, ensuring that your position is defended within the scope of the applicable legislation and that any tax liabilities and penalties are minimised/mitigated as far as possible.

We have found from many years of experience that HMRC are not always right and that even when they are right, a fully co-operative approach can lead to a more positive outcome than clients might have originally expected.