Case Studies

We met with a client recently who is in his early 60s and recently widowed, to discuss his current position and ask us for advice on general tax planning. His total estate included 9 rental properties worth around £2.5 million and as a result IHT was a potentially significant issue. He was also in a partnership with his siblings and his share of the profit met his day-to-day needs for income. He had one grown up son and was concerned that on his death he could have a significant IHT liability.

Through some analysis and calculations we identified that incorporating the business and creating a family investment company was the most tax efficient structure. We estimate his net savings per annum to be in the region of £110,000 in income tax and £250,000 in inheritance tax.

We therefore incorporated his partnership business and set up an alphabet share structure in the company to provide flexibility in paying dividends to different shareholders.

The above options enabled him to retain control over his assets and income. Moreover by putting cash into a company in this way, this took cash away from his estate for IHT purposes.

We also recommended that he dispose of all his properties to his company, using the multiple dwellings stamp duty relief.

With careful tax planning we were able to reduce this client’s future personal and inheritance tax liability.

Our client is a specialist mechanical, electrical and plumbing services provider. The team has a wealth of experience of development projects from initial concept through to commissioning and beyond. They focus on providing outstanding MEP solutions throughout the UK with a particular emphasis on environmentally efficient technology. This experience means they are often tasked with providing technical expertise on sustainable development projects, which require the team to undertake significant periods of R&D to remain at the top of its industry.

We approached the company as we identified them as a leading figure in development projects and raised R&D tax credits as a possible way to see some cash return from their investment.

We were confident that the products and services offered by the client would fall within the R&D tax relief criteria so our tax team set to work. Working closely together, all financial data was provided to HMRC in order to make a R&D tax claim. HMRC did not query the information provided and our client received a tax saving of £42K.

Our success rate with R&D tax claims meant we were confident that we would achieve a satisfactory result for our client. We were able to provide the expertise to them without any issue and we appreciated that the client recognised us as an expert in the R&D tax claim field.

Our client is a property development and investment company.

The business acquired a freehold interest in land and buildings comprising Homes of Multiple Occupancy for use in the trade.

We carried out a review on the acquisition for Homes of Multiple Occupancy and identified £212,985 of qualifying expenditure, generating over £61,400 of tax savings.

The client received a report summarising our research, findings and value of the fixtures and land. This was submitted to HMRC in the company's tax return to support the claim that generated significant tax savings in the year of expenditure as well as going forward.