Taxation Department

We have a specialised tax department with many years' experience in both business and personal tax. We made a point of mastering all aspects of self-assessment as and when they appeared with the result that we now regard ourselves as experts in this field.

We have access to a specialist taxation consultant who has worked with us for many years and who was previously a District Inspector of Taxes. He visits our offices on demand and usually visits two to three days per month.

Business Tax

Are you paying too much tax? Tax planning and mitigation are things every business should do. We can help you with Corporation Tax or Income Tax on your business profits, VAT, National Insurance, Capital Gains Tax and all other aspects of reducing your payments to the Revenue.

Due to the recent changes in legislation there could be compelling reasons why a business may be advised to incorporate for taxation reasons. We have carefully studied the position and have been running regular seminars on the subject. There are many areas to trap the unwary and we have committed considerable research in order to be in a position to advise on all of the issues.

We are able to offer fixed price incorporation services with four standard permutations plus extras, so there will be a solution that may be tailored just for your circumstances. Since the changes in legislation became law in July 2002 we have incorporated over 50 businesses, so we have plenty of experience to be able to advise on whether this could be right for you.

Personal Tax

Pension planning, inheritance tax planning and planning to minimise capital gains tax are some of the ways that we can help you maximise your personal allowances and minimise your tax liability.

When inheritance tax kicks in it is at 40% on assets passing on death. The recent increases in property values can mean that inheritance tax no longer only affects the wealthy families. The zero rate band of £250,000 is a valuable relief, yet there are many cases that we see where it has been wasted, meaning that up to £100,000 of tax could be paid needlessly. We have recently advised a family where £90,000 of tax was partly paid, and yet with planning via deeds of variation (currently available, yet for how long?) we were able to re-engineer the situation and prevent further tax becoming payable and obtain a refund of all of the tax paid.

With the changes in the capital gains legislation in from April 1998, and subsequent variations, it is now vital that proper advice is obtained in order to reduce or eliminate liability. Business taper relief can mean that 75% of the gain falls out of charge after two years of ownership, yet for investment assets the relief is only 40% after 10 years. We believe that it is vital to obtain quality advice and we have been able to assist clients over the years to save large sums of capital gains tax by careful proactive planning.