Capital Allowances

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.

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 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 back up kept on file in the event of any HMRC enquiries.

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 possible to still 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.

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.