Old Mill Tax Service Brochure

Bringing you tailored tax solutions based on our thorough understanding of your needs and ambitions.

Let’s face it; Tax can be taxing!

Tax is a necessary function, from individuals and family members to employees and business entrepreneurs. But, it can take your attention away from the more important aspects of your life, such as decision-making and achieving your goals.

We take the stress and uncertainty out of tax by providing quality, professional advice. We do the hard work, which means you don’t have to.

David Maslen Head of Tax

David Maslen Head of Tax 01935 709425/ 07825 620024

david.maslen@om.uk

Stephen Martin Partner, Corporate Tax 01225 701249

stephen.martin@om.uk

David Gage Partner, Head of VAT 07970 887219

david.gage@om.uk

Chris Watts Associate Director, Private Client 07866 187936

chris.watts@om.uk

Laura Wylie Associate Director, Private Client and Head of Stamp Duty Land Tax 01225 701244

laura.wylie@om.uk

Marketa Pasova Associate Director, Corporate Tax 01392 351319

marketa.pasova@om.uk

Personal and Family Tax Planning

Benjamin Franklin’s often-quoted remark that “nothing is certain, except death and taxes” holds as true today as ever, but the quality and length of your life and how much tax you’ll pay are much more open to debate. Every client must account for taxes in one form or another, from a relatively straightforward Self Assessment Tax Return to a much more complex structure of business and individual taxes.

Preparing and filing a Self Assessment Tax Return can be stressful and demanding for many people. Even if your return is relatively simple, recognising and collating the accurate information that HMRC needs while understanding the various allowances and tax reliefs can be time-consuming.

A straightforward return can also quickly become more complex as income from investments, an element of selfemployment, and any income from a rented property get added to the mix. Our specialist personal tax team has years of experience and expertise in dealing with Self Assessment Tax Returns for many clients.

We can complete your Self Assessment Tax Return on your behalf, calculate your tax bill, and deal with HMRC. We will ensure we present all information correctly to mitigate your liabilities.

The Self Assessment Tax Return services we offer include the following:

• Assisting with the collation and preparation of your necessary financial information

• Assisting with the preparation of your Self Assessment Tax Return

• Accurately calculating your tax bills

• Advising you of all tax payments due

• Ensuring you meet the deadlines to avoid penalties and interest

• Dealing with HMRC on your behalf

• Dealing with any enquiries from HMRC following tax returns

• Handling other matters such as checking PAYE code numbers and statements of account.

Capital Gains Tax

If you are considering selling or disposing of an asset, you may be liable to pay Capital Gains Tax (CGT). But by carefully timing the disposal, you can make the best use of the CGT reliefs and allowances available.

Our tax specialists will work closely with you to advise on your personal circumstances and effectively manage any tax liability. A chargeable gain or loss applies to the sale or disposal of all chargeable assets. It is calculated separately for each asset, which may include the gifting and sale of land and property, business assets and agricultural property.

The earlier we work with you, the more opportunity there may be to make considerable savings and plan effectively for the future.

Specialist CGT areas we can advise you on include:

• Business Asset Disposal Relief (formerly called Entrepreneurs’ Relief)

• How to qualify for roll-over relief

• How to qualify for gift relief

• Using a trust

• Disposal of the main residence

• Sale of farmland for redevelopment

• Gifting between connected persons

• Dealing with family divisions

• Exchanges of joint interest

• Reinvestment reliefs

Our award-winning Tax and VAT service combined with our accountancy and wealth management expertise offers you an integrated service that really sets us apart.

Inheritance Tax Planning

Inheritance Tax (IHT) is the tax paid on assets (after you have deducted allowances) when someone dies.

It’s a growing concern for many, and while increasing allowances on property left by parents and grandparents have eased the tax burden slightly, in a worst-case scenario, it may mean that your family only receives 60% (after all available allowances) of the wealth you hope to leave as their inheritance.

Our specialist tax planning team will work with you to understand how you want to pass on your estate and help you put measures and structures that ensure the wealth you have worked hard to accumulate isn’t swallowed up by IHT.

The specialist IHT planning areas we can advise you on include the following:

• How to make Potentially Exempt Transfers

• How to make Chargeable Lifetime Transfers

• How can you benefit from Business Property Relief

• How you can qualify for the Residence Nil Rate Band

• How you can use trusts to protect assets

• Avoiding gifts with reservation of benefits.

Corporation Tax

Any business transaction, from expanding your company, changing your business status or buying a new property to changing location, buying or selling assets, attracting new investors and shareholders, and closing your company down, can have Corporation Tax consequences, which need to be properly thought through. We aim to cut through the complexity of tax regulations and provide you with timely, effective, actionable solutions that make sense. By building longterm relationships with clients and gaining an in-depth understanding of your business, we can work with you to develop a strategic plan that ensures you make the best use of all the available tax reliefs, maximise profits and reduce your tax burden.

We are proud to be one of the South West’s leading tax specialists. The areas our in-house specialist Corporation Tax teams can advise you on include the following:

• Corporation Tax compliance

• Employment taxes

• Employee Share Ownership Scheme

• Capital allowance reviews for large projects

• Research and Development (R&D) tax relief claims

• Value-Added Tax (VAT)

• Corporate structure and investment

• Transactional work (including share buy-backs and share reorganisations)

• Tax efficient profit extraction

• Corporation Tax consequences.

Value Added Tax (VAT)

Dealing with Value Added Tax (VAT) can be complex and time-consuming, particularly if your business operation includes goods and services that may be discounted or exempt, or if you trade internationally. But with the right support and advice, you can reduce the risk of penalties, potentially improve your business cash flow and free up more of your time to focus on your true business objectives.

How we can help

Old Mill’s specialist VAT team works with UK and international businesses on a wide range of VAT-related issues. As well as advising on VAT from registration through to managing your business across the entire supply chain, we will also liaise with other parties on your behalf to secure solutions.

Our bespoke advice on VAT issues includes a strong focus on land and property enquiries and international VAT, and our team keeps up-to-date on the constantly changing landscape of VAT legislation – so that you don’t have to. We can help you to plan for VAT before setting out on a new venture, including setting up overseas, buying or selling a property or raising finances, and our team addresses compliance issues proactively to help you avoid penalties.

The specialist VAT areas that we can advise you on include:

• Health check reviews identifying both VAT risks and opportunities for savings

• International tax and dealing with trading outside the UK

• Land and property transactions, and the option to tax

• Acquisitions and disposals

• Succession – new entities and trust entity implications

• Diversification – VAT queries and strategy

• Brexit – compliance now, international

• Buying and selling, streamline logistics

• Making Tax Digital

• International trade

• Compliance – penalties and interest, returns and payments, registration, reviews and audits

• HMRC enquiries and negotiations

• Indirect tax investigations, independent reviews and appeals to the Tribunal.

Stamp Duty Land Tax

Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) is a complex tax, and with the current land and property prices, it is a high additional purchase cost. When you purchase more than one property, or a mix of residential and non-residential property and land, reliefs are potentially available that could save you significant SDLT costs – sometimes hundreds of thousands of pounds.

Old Mill offers straightforward advice to give purchasers the peace of mind that they are paying the correct amount of SDLT and claiming all relevant reliefs. Our dedicated SDLT team understand complex legislation and case law and can provide you with comprehensive advice when dealing with your property purchase. You can be sure you will pay the correct SDLT and claim all available reliefs when meeting the qualifying conditions. We will work closely with your solicitor/ conveyancer in this process.

We understand that SDLT has to be paid within 14 days of completion and will ensure you receive our advice promptly.

We will be honest and inform you if we feel reliefs are unavailable. A fixed fee will be agreed upon before we undertake any work to ensure we provide you with the best service.

Based on the information provided by you, the estate agents, and your solicitor, we will:

• Provide a timely written report outlining any available reliefs and highlighting any risks

• Provide SDLT computations that show the tax position and available potential tax savings.

Research and Development (R & D)

The tax team at Old Mill specialises in helping South West forward-thinking businesses across all sectors to grow to the next level. Whether you’re a pioneering manufacturer, a farmer working on processes to extend product shelf life, or an entrepreneur developing cutting-edge digital communication channels, your R&D expenditure may qualify for the scheme. If it does, the rewards can be substantial.

Businesses across the South West are among the most progressive and forward-thinking in the UK. Yet, many may be missing out on tax incentives by either being unaware of the scheme or assuming their research work will not qualify.

The R&D tax credit scheme rewards companies that invest in developing new products, processes or services or enhancing existing ones by offering tax relief on a range of revenue expenditures (including employee costs and materials). We can explore whether you are eligible to make an R&D claim and then advise and support you through the claim process by liaising with HMRC on your behalf.

If your business and the project meet the criteria, you could benefit from tax relief on your qualifying R&D costs, contact us to find out more.

Tax Investigations

Tax investigations are becoming increasingly common, costly and onerous. Our experienced specialist tax team offers a tax investigation service, along with a fee protection scheme –so that we can deal with HMRC enquiries on your behalf, giving you peace of mind and the time to enjoy the important things in life.

Tax investigations can be triggered by one of several things – consecutive years of unprofitability, figures inconsistent with your industry sector, or regular mistakes on your tax return are some common causes – but they can also be randomly generated.

Whatever the cause, HMRC does not need to tell you the reason for the investigation, and the onus will be on you to prove that your tax return is correct rather than on HMRC to identify errors. Investigations can take three months to at least a year and much longer in cases involving large, complex businesses.

Our tax investigation service is designed to help you avoid both the stress and the time demands of dealing with HMRC by dealing with HMRC on your behalf.

Our specialists have plenty of experience handling such enquiries and understand what responses you will need to make to HMRC to defend your position.

We offer a service which covers the cost of our fees in dealing with HMRC should they enquire into your affairs, these costs can be substantial as HMRC seek to close the tax gap and increase revenue for the government. To find out more please speak to a member of the team who can advise you further on the costs and what the service covers.

Employee Share Ownership Scheme

It’s natural that as an employer, you’d want to attract and retain the best talent at your company and with the right Employee Share Ownership Scheme, you can do just that. Incentivising, rewarding and aiding recruitment are all strong reasons to introduce an employee share scheme. What you might not realise is that rewarding your best people doesn’t necessarily mean having to increase salaries or pay out bonuses.

There are many different types of Employee Share Ownership Schemes, and each will impact your employee engagement and your tax contribution. Your option depends on factors such as company size, wealth, culture, employee retention, etc.

There are a range of creative methods to consider:

• Share options

• Enterprise Management Incentives (or EMI schemes)

• Freezer shares (or Growth shares)

• Employee Bonus.

Exit Strategy and Succession Planning

Establishing and running a successful business takes hard work, determination and all your focus. At Old Mill, we understand that business owners and managers tend to concentrate on current activity, planning for the next three to five years rather than thinking about the long term.

But there will come a time when you want to enjoy the fruits of all that hard work, and at that point, will you sell your business or pass it on to your children? How will you identify if there is someone in the business now who would make a great boss? And how will you realise the value of the business most effectively to provide financial security for your future?

Working closely alongside our colleagues in our specialist Corporate Finance team can help you address these issues as part of your exit strategy or succession planning process. We have worked with many business owners for years, putting long-term plans in place to help them sell their businesses or hand over the reins to the next generation.

So while your focus may be on building the business, we can work with you now to ensure that your exit or succession strategy is in place when the time is right. The specialist exit strategy and succession planning areas we can advise you on include the following:

• Valuing your business

• Selling your business

• Passing the business down through the family

• Passing the business on to key employees or managers

• Tax planning advice around any business sale or succession.

Construction Industry Scheme (CIS)

Contractors and subcontractors working in the construction sector must operate within the Construction Industry Scheme (CIS). At Old Mill, we can assist both contractors and subcontractors in complying with the CIS legalisation and advise on registration, calculation and reclaiming of deductions.

Specifically, we can help register contractors and subcontractors, including advising whether gross registration is available. We can prepare and submit monthly contractor CIS returns from your records and calculate and advise you of the tax liability.

This can also involve advising you whether a contract falls under the CIS scheme and which elements should have CIS tax deducted. We can also help you amend past CIS returns where required.

For limited company subcontractors, we can help you reclaim CIS tax you may have previously had deducted, including making the relevant Employer Payment Summary (EPS) submissions and corresponding with HMRC. We can help calculate CIS deducted for unincorporated subcontractors and include the relevant pages on your selfassessment tax return.

The Patent Box

Is any of your company’s income derived from a patented invention?

Does your company have any pending patent applications or plans to submit a patent application?

Is your company undertaking a Research & Development (R&D) project or has it already completed a successful R&D project?

If you’ve answered yes to any of the above, you should consider the company’s current and future eligibility for the valuable Patent Box tax relief, accessing the effective 9% saving on certain Intellectual Property (IP) related profits.

It may be that applying for patents is not a part of your current R&D strategy, perhaps because of the complexity of the process and the limitations of the protection it offers. It still may be worth exploring whether a more straightforward application could be made for a smaller component of the invention to gain access to the Patent Box regime.

What is The Patent Box?

The Patent Box is a tax incentive designed to reward companies for driving innovation. Complementing the existing R&D tax relief schemes, it aims to encourage the development of new products and processes to boost economic growth in the UK. It is a generous innovation tax relief which reduces the Corporation Tax rate to 10% on profits derived from UK and EU patents and certain similar IP rights. The Corporation Tax rate currently at 19% translates into an effective 9% tax saving on the relevant IP profits.

It is never too early to start thinking about the Patent Box. Decisions made in the very early stages of the innovation cycle can affect the company’s eligibility for the Patent Box regime for the many years ahead.

Contact

Exeter

Leeward House | Fitzroy Road | Exeter Business Park | EX1 3LJ

Chippenham

Unit 2 | Greenways Business Park | Bellinger Close | SN15 1BN

Wells

Bishopbrook House | Cathedral Avenue | BA5 1FD

Yeovil

Maltravers House | Petters Way | BA20 1SH

enquiries@om.uk

If you would like to discuss anything in this brochure, please contact our experts introduced on page 4 to arrange a meeting.

Please take a moment to read this important information. Tax services will be provided by Old Mill Accountancy Limited. The registered office for this company is Maltravers House, Petters Way, Yeovil, Somerset BA20 1SH.

enquiries@om.uk |