We can assist you with planning and managing your personal and business affairs to minimise tax payments.

Personal Taxes

Income Tax

There are many factors to consider when optimising your personal tax position.  Are you claiming the Marriage Allowance?  Are you utilising the tax relief available on pension contributions?  Do you understand the effective rate of tax on earnings between £100k and £120k?

Our services include the preparation and submission of your self-assessment tax return, helping to ensure that you have claimed all the reliefs to which you are entitled and that your tax risk is minimised by including the correct level of disclosure. We can also advise you on structuring remuneration packages.

Trading losses

The use of tax losses continues to change, with limits now in place regarding the timing and level of using losses.  Speak to us to make sure you optimise the way you use any tax losses.

IR35

The rules surrounding the taxation of personal services companies are tightening.  We can advise you on the potential for your business to fall within the scope of the deemed employment laws.

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Capital Gains Tax

This is an area of tax which has changed considerably over the last few years. We can advise you on maximising the reliefs which are available to reduce the tax payable. In particular, we can
advise on:

• Entrepreneurs’ Relief – this a lifetime relief and so needs to be planned carefully
• Principle Private Residence Relief
• Transfers between spouses
• Relief for gifts of business assets
• Use of capital losses

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Corporate Taxes

We can help you to plan to optimise Corporation Tax position, including relating to the following:

• Corporation Tax planning, as well as preparation and submission of Corporation Tax returns
• Reconstructions and Re-organisations
• Group Relief
• Research & Development Tax Credits
• Substantial Shareholdings Exemption
• Use of trading losses
• Advice on Associated Companies and the impact on corporate tax and liabilities.

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Inheritance Tax

We can help you to plan your affairs to ensure that your wealth is protected at various times in your life through careful Inheritance Tax planning. This can cover:

• Lifetime planning
• Planning transfers between spouses
• Maximising use of reliefs, including spouse exemption, use of the nil rate band, gifts, business property relief and agricultural relief
• Valuation of company shares
• Estate & succession planning
• Trusts
• The family home

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Remuneration Tax Planning

The way you take your remuneration from a business or your employment affects the amount of tax payable as an individual. There are many factors to consider. Why not talk to our advisors about:

• Salary v Bonus v Dividends
• Salary sacrifice schemes
• Share Option Plans including Enterprise Management Incentive Scheme
• Pension contributions

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Tax Investigations and Enquiries

We realise that it can be a very stressful time during an investigation or enquiry by H M Revenue & Customs. We can assist you through this process – this is especially important in view of the high penalties charged.

We can assist you in this process by assessing the technical merits of the claims and / or assessments being made by H M Revenue & Customs and then, where appropriate, assisting with the replies given, challenging technical aspects of the assessment and managing the process. We can handle the correspondence with H M Revenue & Customs, allowing you to concentrate on running your business or performing your job. We can attend meetings and where necessary take the case to the appropriate tribunal.

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Tax Planning on Incorporation

If you are considering incorporating an existing business, we can assist with planning a tax effective method for achieving this.

As a shareholder there are a variety of ways to draw cash from your company.

We can help you with this by comparing the tax costs of a variety of methods of extracting cash from your company. This is likely to include:

• Salary / Remuneration
• Pension contributions
• Dividends
• Potentially rent, loan interest or royalties.

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Investment Tax Relief

We can advise on and complete clearance applications for SEIS and EIS and then on going reporting during the duration of the scheme.

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VAT Planning and new MTD rules

Making Tax Digital (MTD) for VAT is the biggest change to VAT filing most people can remember. From 1 April 2019, most VAT registered businesses will need to maintain digital records in software approved by HM Revenue & Customs. The existing HMRC VAT portal will be discontinued for those businesses affected by MTD. At Zenon, we have prepared for these changes by undertaking relevant training and are QuickBooks Making Tax Digital ProAdvisors. We work with and recommend HMRC approved MTD compatible software, including QuickBooks Online.

VAT is a complex area with many traps for the unwary. We can advise you on when to register for VAT and assist you in registering if required. We can also advise you on VAT strategies to maximise recovery of VAT suffered and to minimise the VAT payable on sales.

Our VAT advice covers the following areas:

• Flat rate scheme
• Partial exemption
• VAT in relation to property development
• International services
• Registration/deregistration
• Reverse charge rules
• Capital goods scheme
• VAT grouping
• Buying or selling a business

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Transactional Tax Planning

We bring together our expertise across the taxes to try to ensure that the tax cost is minimised when our clients are involved in a transaction.

We find that when we are involved at an early stage we can structure the deal to maximise the tax reliefs available and minimise any tax costs. We find that this really adds value and saves time and expense at a later stage.

On the buy side, we are proactive in advising on tax efficient structures for the purchaser. During the process of due diligence, we are able to identify where the tax risks lie and utilise this information in the transaction negotiations.

On the sell side, if we are involved early enough we can help assess where the tax risks primarily lie and address those issues before they become a potential deal problem during due diligence.

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