Lets be honest, nobody likes going to the dentist. Fortunately, my last visit to the dentist was to discuss tax planning and not the state of my teeth.

 He has seen many changes to the tax landscape over the 20 years he has run his practice, but is particularly unhappy how he is being targeted by the recent changes to the income tax regime. The combination of losing his personal tax-free allowance and the introduction of the new 50% income tax band has left him almost £6,000 worse off this year.

 He told me that he had various advisers over the years so his financial affairs are all over the place, policies here and there with no overall planning or strategy. I told him that we work with our clients to provide a holistic service by developing their life plan.

 We talked through some of the tax planning options open to him, many of which he knew about, such as Venture Capital Trusts (VCT), Enterprise Investment Schemes (EIS) and pension contributions. Above and beyond these mainstream options, we work with a number of tax planning specialists to offer bespoke advice to our clients.

 After another meeting, this time at our offices, we introduced the dentist to a solution perfect for someone in his profession. He was extremely happy, “I was looking for ways to offset the extra £6,000 tax I was paying this year, but in fact I have reduced my tax bill by significantly more”.

 If you would like to know how to reduce your tax bill we might be able to help. Call me today for a free no-obligation consultation on 0844 848 2277.

What if you could use your pension scheme to lend money to your business for that new project or just to ease cash flow?

Well you can and our clients and their businesses have benefited!

That is the power of a Small Self Administered Scheme (SSAS)

A SSAS is a corporate pension scheme that allows a loan to the sponsoring employer of up to 50% of the schemes assets.

Let me give you an example…

You have existing personal and occupational pensions with a combined value of £100,000.

By transferring the existing pensions to a SSAS, you are now able to loan up to £50,000 to your company, the sponsoring employer.

Not only does your business have the funds it requires, the pension scheme receives the interest payments rather than the bank!

A SSAS can have up to 11 members and it’s the combined assets that count when calculating the loan of up to 50% so in the right circumstances the loan can be substantial!

There are restrictions and this may not be suitable for everyone, but can your business afford not to find out more?

Call today for your free consultation on 0844 848 2277.

The taxes levied at businesses when they are sold are colossal.

But there are ways you can greatly reduce this bill.

An entrepreneur, planning the future sale of his successful business, was referred to us by an existing client. He already had the skill set to make the business grow and planned to float the business in 3 years time.

Your money, not the taxman’s

He wanted to ensure that he and his family were the prime beneficiaries of his years of hard work and NOT the taxman!

We calculated that on the assumed sale price of £10m the Capital Gains Tax liability would be £1.64m (more if the client or his partner had already utilised their Entrepreneurs Relief).

This would leave net proceeds of £8.36m but this forms part of his estate in the UK for IHT purposes. At current rates this is levied at 40%, creating an IHT liability of £3.34m.

On his death, the beneficiaries to his estate receive just £5m from the £10m sale!

Share Release Trust

That is where we stepped in, setting up a Share Release Trust.

The shares are moved into a tax free trust-based environment and the client benefits from the following:

1. Shares can be sold free of Capital Gains Tax
2. Re-investment can be made tax free
3. Income returns are tax free
4. The proceeds of the business sale pass to beneficiaries free of IHT

And here’s the best bit, based on the current valuation of the business of £1m the cost to the client now is £150,000 and no future tax liability. Saving the client literally millions!