Capital Allowances

Capital Allowances are one of the most valuable UK tax reliefs, but many businesses miss out because of the perceived complexity. AAB’’s specialist team can assist in identifying qualifying expenditure and maximising the tax reliefs available.

Caroline Butler

Corporate Tax Director

Contact Caroline Meet the team

Who we can help

START-UPS
ENTREPRENEURS
SMES
PRIVATELY OWNED & LISTED BUSINESSES
MULTINATIONALS
PUBLIC & SOCIAL SECTOR ORGANISATIONS

How we can help

PROPERTY TRANSACTIONS
CAPITAL ALLOWANCE CLAIM
COMMERCIAL PROPERTY TRANSACTIONS

ENSURING YOU BENEFIT

Talk to our specialist team

Tax deductions available through Capital Allowances can bring significant cash-flow advantages for your business, but many business owners fail to claim because of the apparent difficulty in identifying qualifying related expenditure. Our specialist Capital Allowances team has extensive knowledge of the rules, how HMRC applies them and connections to property experts who assist us in making successful claims.

We can maximise the tax deductions available to you by undertaking a detailed review of the costs, identifying items that will qualify for Capital Allowances and ensuring efficient use of the Annual Investment Allowance (AIA) and the temporary enhanced reliefs that are currently available such Super Deduction and Enhanced First Year Allowances. Working directly with surveyors, lawyers and project managers as appropriate, we’ll gather information to allow us to identify your qualifying expenditure.

ALLOWANCES ON PROPERTY TRANSACTIONS

We can help with Capital Allowances on all types of property transactions, whether you are looking to:

Sell or purchase an existing building
Purchase or construct a new build
Refurbish existing premises

Although tax legislation in this area is complex, involving us in the property transaction process will ensure the tax aspects of the deal are properly considered

If you are involved in any property transactions, don’t overlook the importance of the legal documentation to protect the tax reliefs you could claim through Capital Allowances. In addition, ff you have’ owned properties for several years, it’s certainly worth carrying out a review to ensure there are no unclaimed allowances. Where there’s a building, there’s nearly always some Capital Allowances available to be claimed.

Need help with capital allowances? Contact us

AAB's expertise in the complex topic of Disguised Remuneration and Employment Related Security legislation allowed the various tax implications of our company share incentive plan to be identified and gain approval from HMRC.
Alan Pearson, Tendek
I contemplated transferring my business to a limited company and I knew I could rely on AAB to make the process as straightforward as possible whilst providing the accounts and tax advice to enable me to make the right decision.
Colin Brown
The Corporate Finance team at AAB understood our business and led us towards concluding a tremendous deal. The team at AAB were thorough, proactive and efficient showing command and control of all the key elements of getting a deal done.
Keith Wallace, EPC Offshore

MANAGING YOUR CAPITAL ALLOWANCE CLAIM

Instructing us to manage your Capital Allowances claim will save you a great deal of time and give you the reassurance that it’s being handled by experts with wide-ranging experience and a respected record of success.

We take a thorough and detailed approach, first ensuring that a claim for allowances is available and then collating all the information we will need to make the claim. This process will include liaising with other professional advisors such as surveyors, architects and lawyers to collect all the relevant data, such as detailed costings, floor plans, photographs and supporting notes to ensure that the appropriate claims are maximised.

Based on the information, a claim will be prepared which will detail a comprehensive analysis of the costs together with their respective tax treatments and the type of allowances that are being claimed. If we act as your compliance advisors, the claim we be included in your appropriate tax computation and detailed backup kept on file in the event of any HMRC enquiries.

Speak to us about capital allowances

IS IT TOO LATE TO CLAIM?

You may think that because you acquired a property some time ago, it’s too late to make a Capital Allowances claim. This isn’t necessarily the case.

If the property was acquired prior to April 2014 and is still held within your business, it is still possible to make a claim for Capital allowances on qualifying expenditure. This will include the costs for any subsequent refurbishment or renovation work. There is a restriction on the first-year allowances that can be claimed (e.g. Annual Investment Allowance and Super Deduction) due to the timing of expenditure requirements, but claims can still be made for Capital Allowances.

The position is more restrictive if the property was acquired after April 2014. Depending on the elections and legal agreements entered into at the time, a claim for allowances may still be available. A review of this will be required to establish if any such claim can be made. However, this restriction will exclude any costs incurred directly by the business after the property was purchased, such as refurbishment, improvement or extensions. These can still be subject to a review and Capital Allowances claimed on qualifying expenditure.

Get in touch about the clarity of your claim

COMMERCIAL PROPERTY TRANSACTIONS

It’s crucial to know if a commercial property you are buying or selling has any unclaimed capital allowances, as this could make a critical difference to the negotiations. It is also imperative that these discussions are held at the time of the deal and not left until a later date. As well as agreeing a value for Capital Allowances where appropriate, the wording to be included in the legal documentation will be crucial, as this can put an obligation on parties to assist with the provision of information after the deal has been completed to enable a claim for Capital Allowances to be completed.

The tax advice provided in relation to the property transaction will differ depending on various factors including if you are the Seller or the Purchaser, if any of the parties fall out with tax tax regime (e.g. they are a pension scheme), your overall tax position and the impact any disposal proceeds could have on this. The availability of Capital Allowances could potentially act as a negotiating tool to secure an increased price for the property or encourage a deal to be concluded.

To ensure that the best position is reached for you, you should seek tax advice in the early stages of the transaction so that all the appropriate matters can be considered.

Reach out to us for trusted tax advice

Sign up for the latest industry insights

Blog24th Jun 2025
Are changes coming to UK transfer pricing rules?
On 28 April 2025, HMRC announced a consultation period in respect of significant changes to the UK’s Transfer Pricing, Diverted Profits Tax and Permanent Establishment legislation as part of the government’s Spring tax update. In this article, we will review…
By Erica Fitchie
View more
Blog25th Mar 2025
What Do Northern Ireland businesses want in the Spring Statement?
With Chancellor Rachel Reeves set to deliver the Spring Statement tomorrow (26th March), business owners across Northern Ireland (NI) will be watching closely. The October 2024 Autumn Budget brought significant changes—some beneficial, others burdensome—particularly for small and medium businesses trying…
By Malachy McLernon
View more
Blog7th Oct 2024
Employee Share Scheme Options for Property Businesses
Share Incentives and Property Businesses In our experience assisting property and construction businesses, one recurrent and challenging question is how to retain top talent through equity incentives. While various tax-efficient share schemes exist, such as the Enterprise Management Incentive (EMI),…
By Kate Naylor
View more
Blog26th Mar 2024
R&D Tax Relief Procedures: HMRC’s Latest Notification Requirement
In today’s fast-paced business landscape, where staying ahead often means innovating and adapting to change, research and development (R&D) tax credits have emerged as a key tool for businesses, especially for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). As an R&D tax…
By R&D Tax Relief Procedures: HMRC’s Latest Notification Requirement
View more