Business Engagements

Bringing together professional advice and practical solutions delivering clarity and results 

For our clients who own their own businesses, we are able to offer high level tax advice to address the concerns of the business rather than the individual. We then dovetail the different interests of both resulting in better cash flow and lower taxation

Our Chartered Tax Advice Service has proved useful to our corporate and business clients and has an excellent reputation for technical, tax planning expertise in the owner-managed business sector.

Two of the main factors that hold businesses back from growing at the optimum rate are

• high levels of taxation
• being unable to find business finance to enable expansion.

Finding finance at important times in the business life cycle is even more challenging when coupled with the tax burden. We assist businesses find capital through conventional means and through less conventional means, such as tax based incentive schemes. Potential investors may be found from our bank of wealthy clients who are able to invest in businesses tax efficiently, thus underpinning the potential risks. We can show companies ways of securing investment inwardly through employee investment in shares, either through share schemes or through full management buyouts

Tax efficient strategies can be used to help businesses keep more of the profits they generate through Corporation Tax mitigation or through tax efficient extraction of funds after CT has been paid. This helps businesses and their owners build wealth much quicker than would otherwise be the case. The building up of wealth outside of the business provides the owner with another possible means of finance - loans to his own business. Reduced levels of personal taxation and increased wealth creation provide greater scope for people to lend to their own business.

Ongoing advice and management of corporate funds helps to enhance value and maximise returns over time. This is never more important than when a company is grooming itself for a sale or flotation. By working with our corporate clients, we show them ways of keeping costs down and revenues up, thus improving profitably and therefore value. Remember, a business is very often valued as a multiple of earnings and so every £1 of profit saved could equate to anything up to £20 in terms of additional value in the company.

Most people devote the whole of their working lives to building up their businesses before retirement which often coincides with a sale of the business. Too often business owners lose too much through Capital Gains Tax on a sale and Inheritance Tax on death. The tax environment is becoming more challenging for those who have built up significant wealth over their working lives, though we are still able to show our clients ways of ensuring they get to keep the vast majority of their wealth, so that it can be passed on in accordance with their wishes, before or after death.

These are some of the areas we specialise in:

• Enterprise Investment Scheme for investing in unquoted trading companies.
• Enterprise Management Incentives Scheme for rewarding and retaining key staff.
• Corporation Tax planning and mitigation.
• Extraction planning for companies to enable funds to accumulate personally.
• Setting up bespoke company pensions schemes and SIPPs, more suitable for the small to medium sized business owner.
• Tax efficient commercial property acquisition.
• Grooming companies for sale and showing them ways of maximising the sale price for their business.
• Exit and retirement planning.
• Advice on how to retain and build wealth after the sale of the business, as well as the transfer of that wealth down to the next generation.

The demands on and needs of business owners are many, complex and intertwined. Balancing business and personal tax advice alongside financing requirements and family interests can be onerous

We bring together professional advice and practical solutions to deliver clarity and results for business owners in any scenario.