Corporate Tax Planning
Our Corporate Tax team will provide you with the information you need to keep your business running, from advice on risk and reporting to compliance and reliefs. Our aim is to save you time and money by looking at your business as a whole, to make sure you are complying with current and future rules and regulations and also to ensure you are taking advantage of industry-specific opportunities.
Group Structures
We’ll look at whether a group structure might suit your company, either to take advantage of potential regulatory, corporate, commercial, legal and tax benefits, or to mitigate risk. Subsidiaries can be used to create an individual brand image or reputation, to ringfence assets and liabilities, or to hold certain assets such as intellectual property. Group structures can provide a central holding point for assets and, if done correctly, can attract tax exemptions and reliefs across the whole group.
HMRC Enquiries and Investigations
It is becoming more common for companies to come under HMRC scrutiny, whether through random selection or a check being triggered. If you are selected, a full investigation is not a pleasant experience so it is important to have an accountant who knows how HMRC works and thinks and is prepared to fight your case. We make sure that HMRC keep to their own internal guidelines and don’t overstep the mark. We will talk you through the enquiry process and what to expect and support you throughout.
Although it’s impossible to avoid being selected, there are a few things that might minimise the threat. We know the triggers that often give rise to enquiries if not fully explained to HMRC when submitting returns to them. Every tax return or set of accounts we submit goes through an anti-investigation scanning check to identify any areas that may lead to an enquiry before they are submitted without explanation. This really does help to minimise the chances of you being on the wrong end of an enquiry.
Property Tax
If you are a buy to let investor or property dealer or developer, we can advise you on issues such as:
- Tax reduction strategies for rental income
- What is a repair and tax deductible and what is capital and not
- When to use a Limited Company to save tax
- Trading income versus Capital Gain considerations and advice
- Capital Gains rollover and holdover considerations
- Stamp duty planning
- Tax efficient mortgage structures
- VAT considerations of property deals
- Making the most of the Principal Private Residence election
- Tax issues on the sale of part of your residence
- Second homes
- Holiday homes
- Inheritance Tax angles
R&D Tax Credits
SME companies can claim enhanced deductions for expenditure on R&D projects at 230% of qualifying expenditure. Where the deduction is claimed and the company makes a loss, it can claim a cash credit from HMRC of 14.5% of that loss. The work that qualifies for R&D relief must be part of a specific project to make an advance in science or technology and must relate to your company’s trade – either an existing one, or one that you intend to start up based on the results of the R&D.
There are many other criteria which we will talk you through, but the main thing is that your business does not have to be a purely scientific or technology-based company to benefit: companies in sectors including Admin & Support Services, Wholesale & Retail, Food & Drink and Manufacturing have all made successful claims for R&D relief.
Tax Compliance
Corporate tax compliance is a tricky and ever-changing area. We’ll make sure your bases are covered, from completing tax returns and supporting documents, calculating allowances, refunds and credits and reporting (including individual reports such as R&D claims). We will also complete your P11D (return of expenses and benefits) forms, CT600 Corporation Tax completion and TSA (CT Pay and File compliance).
Tax Disputes
Disputes can arise in all sorts of areas outside of full enquiries and investigations. We have the specialist tax knowledge to assist with a wide range of tax disputes, including:
- Employment status disputes
- Repairs v capital disputes
- Private usage adjustments
- Capital allowances – is it plant or property?
- Settlements legislation – the classic husband and wife company scenario
- IR35
- Valuations for tax purposes
- Trading activity
- VAT segregation of businesses to avoid registration
- Employee benefit disputes
Tax Investigation Fee Protection
HMRC has powers to investigate income tax and corporation tax payers at random. It’s worth considering protecting yourself from the accountancy costs of dealing with it as the amount of work involved is often substantial.
You can get cover for the following…
- Self-assessment enquiries
- VAT enquiries
- PAYE and benefits enquiries
- IR35 enquiries
Even if HMRC finds nothing as a result of any investigation, you will still have unexpected professional fees to pay as a result.
We cannot prevent you from being investigated by HMRC, but we can help to ensure that you get the best possible support and advice without having to worry about the cost.
Testimonials
Castrads were recommended to Bennett Verby by Barclays Bank. Poor advice given by our previous accountants was immediately rectified. Over the ensuing years many thousands of pounds were saved by arranging our tax affairs in an intelligent way. I would recommend Bennett Verby to any business.
I would not hesitate to recommend Bennett Verby as part of your business support team. Bernard and his colleagues have always had a pro-active approach to our business, by fully understanding what our objectives were and being totally all over the latest legislation, they helped us to develop powerful and efficient strategies to achieve those goals.
When you run a small business, you cannot be an expert on everything. Not only are Bennett Verby always available to guide you, they manage, with all their specialist departments, to make business decisions, and actions smoother and manage somehow to make life simpler. Bennett Verby and Compass have grown alongside each other over the past 20 years or so.
