Corporate Tax Advice
At About Tax, we are specialists in advising owner-managed businesses - areas of expertise include:
Attracting investments through investor reliefs
Employee retention and remuneration
Company sales and shareholder exits
Innovation reliefs, such as R&D tax credits
Company reconstructions
Remuneration planning
And many more.
Below are some examples of clients we have recently helped.
case study 1: the Company Sale
The client contacted us about an impending sale of their business, wanting to know how best to structure this to retain the maximum funds to reinvest into future commercial ventures.
We performed a review of the corporate structure, and identified that not all of the corporate group would in fact be sold. This meant that, in the correct circumstances, a valuable relief known as Substantial Shareholding Relief would be available.
By structuring the sale in accordance with our advice, and HMRC guidance, the client was able to sell the company at significant tax savings.
This resulted in the funds being payable to the company rather than the client personally. But as the clients intentions were always to reinvest the proceeds into other ventures, it offered a highly effective solution.
case study 2: investor reliefs
The client - a recent tech start-up - contacted us with two goals. First to attract investors to provide the cash necessary to grow the business, second to tie in key employees to best ensure this future growth.
We discussed a number of options with the client. We first settled on an relief known as EIS, securing clearance from HMRC that the investor would receive valuable tax reductions. This significantly reduced the economic risk of the investment, resulting in greater cash-flow to the business.
We also put in place a share option agreement, known as EMI, that would allow the key employees to benefit from the future growth of the company in a highly tax efficient manner. Exiting the company within the projected growth period, of 3 years, would forfeit the shares, ensuring employee retention.
Careful guidance was required to ensure interaction between these reliefs.
case study 3: R&D Relief
The client, a medical company, had been advised that they could qualify for R&D tax credits. They wanted to understand the best way to secure these reliefs, and whether any other tax savings could be available.
We first performed a review of the company activities. Once we were certain that R&D tax credits would be available, we set about reviewing the costs in greater detail, to ensure the greatest value claim could be made, both in this year and the preceding year. The result was a significant reduction in the corporation tax bill.
In addition to a successful R&D claim we also determined that the company owned intellectual property that could be patented. Where this is the case, relief is available to effectively half the corporation tax on relevant profits (under a relief known as Patent Box), further increasing the tax savings available to the company.
The above are just a few examples of how we have helped clients in the past. To find out how we might be able to assist you, please contact us.
