Tax, made straightforward

Whether you are a sole trader, a partner or director in a business, or a self-employed sub-contractor, you are required to submit a Self Assessment return each year. For many people it can seem daunting — the deadline is overlooked, and HMRC’s penalties automatically arise, until the amount owed is far greater than the original tax.

We’ll give you total peace of mind by dealing with your Self Assessment Tax Return each year. We’ll ask you for all your receipts and invoices for your expenses and income (clients often bring them in a carrier bag or shoe box), quickly work out your profit or loss and your tax liability, and make sure your return is submitted on time. We’re also very good at identifying situations where a tax refund may be due.

Quite often we are asked to deal with previous years that have been overlooked and where penalties have arisen — we are usually able to negotiate a payment plan with HMRC.

We provide a full range of services and support for partnerships, so you and your partners can focus on your business knowing we are your accounts department on hand to deal with everything efficiently.

Each year we deal with the Partnership Annual Return (form SA800) — a declaration of each partner’s share of profits or losses, filed with HMRC. In addition, we prepare and submit an individual Self Assessment tax return for each partner annually. Partners are responsible for paying their own National Insurance contributions and income tax on their individual share of profits. Where a partner is a limited company, it will face corporation tax on its partnership income.

If you are VAT registered we will efficiently calculate your VAT and submit your quarterly VAT returns on time — every time. Businesses may be subject to VAT inspection by HMRC, and the process is usually much easier if you have outsourced your bookkeeping and accounting to us — our professional status and independence gives confidence that your affairs have been properly managed.

You have to register and account for VAT once your sales are about to go above the VAT threshold. VAT is a complex tax with a harsh penalty regime, and in many cases requires specialist knowledge, especially in areas such as property development and importing and exporting goods and services.

We can monitor your business, advise you when you need to register, prepare and file your VAT returns, and advise on the most appropriate scheme to use, such as:

• Cash accounting scheme
• Flat rate scheme
• Margin scheme
• Annual accounting

Our Tax team understands that tax investigations can be very stressful and time consuming. Our Tax Investigation Team aims to provide you with specialist advice to minimise the stress and anxiety an HMRC investigation may cause, resolving matters in the most efficient and cost-effective manner while minimising your tax exposure wherever possible.

We specialise in the whole range of tax investigations, from voluntary disclosures and those conducted at local compliance level, right through to cases handled under HMRC’s Code of Practice 9 (COP9) Contractual Disclosure Facility. We also provide VAT inspection advice and specialise in VAT fraud cases. If you are subject to a tax investigation by HMRC, please give us a call today.

Raising external investment is something most small business owners contemplate at some point. One solution is raising equity through the government’s highly tax-efficient Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS), which offers investors immediate tax relief on the value of their investment, and the ability to recoup income tax on most of the value if the investment fails.

There are certain conditions that need to be met, but in our experience most small businesses qualify and the approval process is relatively straightforward. We offer fixed-price EIS packages that aim to make the scheme available to all small businesses.

There are literally thousands of deductions and allowances available that can reduce your tax liability, but unless you get tax advice from an expert you cannot possibly know all of them. If you choose one of our compliance packages, all your tax compliance and most of your tax advice & planning will be taken care of. Careful tax planning means more money is retained by you or in your business, and is an important aspect of wealth creation.

We also provide advice and planning in other areas of taxation, including:

• Capital Gains Tax
• Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT)
• Annual Tax on Enveloped Dwellings (ATED)
• Inheritance Tax
• Property taxes
• Tax-efficient profit extraction (salaries, dividends, pensions, benefits in kind)
• Income tax & corporation tax mitigation