Corporate Tax

CORPORATE TAX COMPLIANCE

Managing your tax compliance has become increasingly complex and more time-consuming. With increased reporting obligations, ever changing legislation and harsher penalties for non-compliance, it’s now even more important to file timely and accurate tax returns, and make the most of your tax planning opportunities. 

Our experience of supporting a wide range of businesses, from start-ups to large groups and quoted companies, means we can take care of all your tax compliance tasks, leaving you more time to focus on running your business. 

We can help with: 

• Preparing and submitting corporate tax computations and returns. 
• Preparing your quarterly tax calculations. 
• Dealing with HM Revenue & Customs correspondence. 
• Preparing all relevant claims to HM Revenue & Customs. 
• Proactively identifying tax planning opportunities, to minimise your liabilities and exploit incentives, so you can save money. 
• In-house staff secondment. 

CORPORATE TAX ADVICE

Corporation tax can be a substantial liability, so it’s important to explore all opportunities to minimise your company’s tax exposure. Effective tax planning is key to your success, so our tax team will use its extensive knowledge to identify where you can make savings.  

Our comprehensive corporate tax advice will not only help minimise and manage your group tax exposure, but also give you more time to focus on your core activities. We’ll review your objectives and strategies, and devise plans that will serve you well now and in the future. We can also assess whether overall group restructuring would be advantageous and how best to achieve it. Our advice will include: 

• Extraction of profits. 
• Group planning. 
• Maximising claims to Capital Allowances. 
• Minimising exposure to Capital Gains. 
• Planning for the optimum utilisation of losses. 
• Advice on the effect of legislative changes. 

TAX PLANNING AND FINANCIAL ADVICE FOR OWNER-MANAGED BUSINESSES

We partner with many owner-managed businesses to help them grow from start-up to maturity. Whether your business is well-established or newly-formed, our extensive range of services and commercial understanding will give you peace of mind 

Our experienced team advises many owner-managed businesses on: 

• The most beneficial vehicle for the business, whether it’s sole trader, partnership, LLP or company, and the potential of different combinations.  
• Tax efficient withdrawal of profits through salaries, dividends, pension planning, company loans and share options. 
• Succession planning. 
• Exit planning. 

TAX EFFICIENT CROSS-BORDER STRUCTURING

More companies are looking to move or expand their operations abroad to improve their market position and/or to take advantage of foreign tax rates and/or regulations. Before making that decision, it’s vital to understanding the impact it will have on your business operations. Our international tax team will ensure your business is structured for optimum tax efficiency both in the UK and globally. 

We’ll advise you on: 

• The corporation tax regime in any country. 
• The most tax efficient form for entering a country, in terms of legal presence and your place in a group structure. 
• How corporate tax will impact profits earned overseas. 
• The impact of UK controlled foreign company (CFC) legislation. 
• Issues relating to the corporate residence of overseas companies. 
• The impact of withholding taxes on financing and repatriation of income and profits. 
• Double tax relief planning. 
• Management of foreign corporate tax liabilities. 
• Complying with corporate tax obligations in foreign countries. 

TRANSFER PRICING RULES AND REGULATIONS

Where goods, services, finances or intangibles are supplied between companies under common control, transfer pricing legislation requires the arm’s length value for such transactions to be used in working out those companies’ corporation tax liabilities, both in the UK and overseas. 

Our transfer pricing experts will ensure your business is compliant with UK and overseas transfer pricing legislation. We’ll advice you on: 

• Any transfer pricing adjustments required. 
• The prescribed methods for pricing on an arm’s length basis. 
• Interaction between the UK and overseas transfer pricing rules. 
• Complying with the documentation requirements of the UK and overseas transfer pricing legislation. 
• Thin capitalisation and debt cap legislation. 

COMPANY REORGANISATION AND RESTRUCTURING

There may be many reasons why it would be an advantage to restructure your business. It may be to protect certain business activities or to divide business assets so shareholders can take responsibility for different parts of the business or so part of it can be sold. 

Company restructuring is fraught with tax issues and this can often be a deterrent. With careful planning, however, the commercial advantages of reorganising business activities or shareholdings can be achieved with little or no tax impact. We’ll explain the reliefs available for your potential restructure and if you go ahead, deal with the HMRC tax clearance procedure. 

TRANSACTION TAX SUPPORT

Tax plays an important role in any transaction and can have a significant impact on the deal. Our team of multi-disciplinary tax specialists focus on the most tax-effective structure for a transaction and for future tax arrangements.  

Working closely with our Corporate Finance team, we’ll support you at every stage of the deal cycle. Our expertise and experience add real value to any transaction and includes: 

• Relevant tax advice including pre-sale planning and structuring an acquisition. 
• Specialist tax due diligence on target businesses. 
• Tax clearances and negotiations with HMRC. 
• Personal tax advice for vendors or management teams on Capital Gains, Income Tax and Inheritance Tax. 

CORPORATE CRIMINAL OFFENCE

Under the Criminal Finances Act 2017, a business failing to prevent an associated person from facilitating tax evasion will have committed a Corporate Criminal Offence (CCO). An ‘associated person’ is anyone performing services for or on behalf of the business, such as an agent, intermediary, subcontractor or employee. 

This means your business could be liable for an employee’s or other associated person’s criminal tax evasion, if it takes place when they are acting as an associated person of your business. If HMRC decides a CCO has been committed, your business will have a criminal record and faces a limitless financial penalty, plus significant adverse publicity and reputational damage. 

To defend against a CCO, you’ll need to satisfy HMRC that you had ‘reasonable’ procedures in place to prevent the tax evasion. We offer various packages to put those procedures in place, tailored to your business. 

TONNAGE TAX

The UK tonnage tax (TT) regime provides qualifying shipping companies with an alternative method for calculating their corporation tax. We support our corporate clients with expert advice on national and international tonnage tax facilities, including: 

• Establishing whether the company or group qualifies for the regime. 
• Strategic and commercial management issues including flagging of vessels, chartered-in tonnage and training requirements. 
• Calculating relevant shipping profits incorporating chargeable gains/losses, capital allowances, finance costs and group relief issues. 
• Acquiring and disposing of tonnage tax assets.