Business owners & Directors

Business owners face myriad compliance requirements from HMRC and Companies House, not to mention the various other legal and industry-specific obligations that arise.

Most businesses know about the burden of many reporting requirements, such as payroll, VAT and Corporation Tax etc., though they are generally less sure about how and when to register for, report and pay taxes and fees. Additionally, there are HMRC and Companies House filings that business owners are not aware of, the ignorance of which can lead to penalties and enquiries.

The small company compliance environment is very familiar to us at Tayabali & White and we can support you as much as you need, allowing you more time to run your business.

As well as coping with the compliance environment, the prospect of having to face an HMRC enquiry is a real concern for business owners. We work with our business clients to help ensure their tax affairs can stand up to scrutiny. We also make sure returns are well-presented and unusual transactions clearly explained to reduce the chance of an HMRC enquiry.

We enjoy an excellent relationship with HMRC, which means that on the rare occasions when an enquiry is made we are able to deal with it quickly and successfully.

For many businesses, the annual tax liability is calculated by the company accountant months after the year end. It is the last figure in the accounts, computed from historical trading results. At Tayabali & White, we prefer to take a different approach by forecasting tax liabilities with our clients as they budget for the year ahead.

By knowing your plans in advance we can estimate your future tax bills and plan for the possible use of the many business tax reliefs available, such as Capital Allowances and R&D Tax Credits. This is just one reason why we work with our company clients throughout the year.

All business owners want to know how best to reward themselves financially from their company in the most tax efficient way possible. No two companies are quite the same and each business will require its own tailor-made strategy, which may vary year on year depending on the results of the business, personal cash requirements and the presence of other investors.

In addition, tax rules and tax rates change frequently, which means that any remuneration strategy must be kept under regular review.

As experienced specialist tax advisers to Owner-Managed Businesses we can advise not only on the personal and company tax opportunities open to you, but also practical considerations, such as cash flow requirements, rewarding key employees and family members involved in the business.

HMRC’s generous R&D Tax Credit regime is designed to help companies, some or all of whose activities make advances in science or technology. What qualifies as R&D is widely drawn and HMRC have said that they feel the relief is under-claimed. Even if you don’t think of yourself as operating in the science or technology sphere it is possible that part of your company’s activities may qualify.

If a claim is successful, profit-making companies can significantly reduce their Corporation Tax liabilities, whereas loss-making companies can obtain a payment from HMRC in return for surrendering losses that would otherwise have been carried forward.

Establishing whether your company qualifies for the R&D Tax Credit regime and then computing and presenting your claim can be very complex. We are very experienced in this area and have never had a claim rejected, in the process saving our clients significant amounts of tax.

There are dozens of different reliefs available to businesses, usually created to incentivise investment and growth.
There are too many to list here, though we have mentioned Capital Allowances and R&D Tax Credits separately. Others that we advise on regularly include the Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) and the Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (SEIS) which offer significant tax savings to investors in small private companies.

Again, the important thing is that by talking regularly to us we can help you identify and claim reliefs that you may not have known about and which may influence your decision-making.

Most business owners and their families are aware of Entrepreneurs’ Relief (which has recently supplanted Entrepreneurs’ Relief), which offers a 10% Capital Gains Tax rate on gains on the disposal of one’s business. What is less well understood are the many qualifying criteria that go with it and consequently the possible wide scope for its disallowance.

We have been advising clients on Business Asset Disposal Relief, and its similar predecessor reliefs for year and we can help you to avoid its pitfalls. As with all areas of tax it is important to plan ahead. Even if your planned exit is many years away, we will work with you now to ensure that you are able to claim this important relief and do not jeopardise your entitlement to it.

From a new computer to buying and refitting of a factory, the taxation of the purchase and disposal business assets is a very complex and widely misunderstood area. Investing in your business is important and obtaining as much tax relief as possible is critical to funding the costs of expansion and improvement.

However, it is also an area that we know well. We encourage our clients to talk to us in advance of making important expenditure or significant disposals of business assets so that we help to ensure the most tax efficient result is achieved.

There are so many aspects to running a business that inevitably many of them are rarely revisited – and, even when they are, often only when they go wrong.

Our Business Review Service systematically reassesses all aspects of your business such as finance and accounting systems, staff incentives and retention, marketing, client care, pricing and many more.

There are always areas for improvement and, crucially, increasing profit.

So many elements of a business come back to finance and often few people in a company are equipped to deal with them. Our Finance Healthcheck service works with owners and key team members to re-examine them in detail and to ensure your business is as financially efficient as possible.

Many of our owner-managed business clients do not require a full-time finance director, but they do need financial direction. We feel that not enough accountants offer this to their clients.

The first step is to design meaningful management accounts by understanding from the directors what key information they need each month to be able to run their business and to make good, timely decisions. Much of this information will be financial, but not all.

Having designed a template of business information to form the company’s management accounts, we encourage the directors to meet with us at least quarterly to discuss results, plan ahead and resolve business issues.

The positive results on company profits and success from doing this can be phenomenal.

Many businesses do not set budgets despite the overwhelming evidence that setting targets drives businesses forward. Budgets and forecasts help businesses and their owners meet their short-term and long-term goals. This is because, when done well, budgets force you to understand your business thoroughly and reappraise all parts of it.

We are very experienced in the process of designing and setting budgets and we enjoy working with directors to help them plan for the future.

Having good management information and reviewing it regularly allows directors to understand the company they run in much more detail. By working with you in this, we can help identify opportunities for the business that require bespoke work.

We have worked on a wide range of bespoke projects for owner-managed businesses from pricing reviews to grant claims, and from tax projects to redesigning accounts departments.

What drove you to start your own business in the first place? What do you want your business to look like in twenty, ten and five years’ time? How does that vision align with your personal lifestyle and financial objectives?

We strongly believe that all business owners should know the answers to these questions. Our whole Strategic Development proposition starts with a session with you to formulate and articulate your business vision. All other planning comes from the business vision.

Once you know what your business vision is, we can help you to set short- and medium-term goals and actions which will contribute to achieving that vision.

This is such an important exercise that we, as your trusted advisers, want to help you with it and are perfectly placed to advise both practically and technically.

‘Growth’ and ‘more profit’ are common objectives for businesses, but only by having set your vision for your business will you be able to define how you want to grow and budget for the profit that you wish to achieve.

We work with owner-managers to achieve their specific growth and profitability targets within the context of their overall vision. This is an immensely productive exercise because it is done within the parameters of a clear plan for the future.

All business owners will move on, step back or retire at some point in the future. This too is part of your business vision. However, unless you plan well ahead you may find that your chosen exit is not available to you.

If you know well in advance what your exit strategy is you can start early to ensure, for example, that the business is attractive to a potential purchaser or that your successor has been recruited, incentivised and groomed to take over.

We specialise in this sort of long-term planning, as well as the tax and other practical aspects of exit, and it forms the crucial final part of strategic planning.