Jon Stow Consulting – Tax Solutions

Most business owners will tell you what they think their accountants do: they prepare the accounts and do the tax return. They probably think of this as pretty much a process. There are two misunderstandings implicit in that sort of thinking; the first is there is a sort of sausage machine at work and that you put in the figures and get a certain result, and the second is that there is no room for manoeuvre.

Most SMEs, by which I mean the larger ones within the official definition down to much smaller almost micro-businesses, are owned by families or family … Continue Reading

Golden handshakes are payments to an individual upon termination of employment and may also be known as lump sum payments.There are cases where such payments are not taxed at all, which are those post-death when an employee has died in service, and in some cases payments due to disability may qualify for exemption. Those are outside the norm.For the most part termination payments are taxable under special rules. The first £30,000 of a leaving payment will be exempt from tax if it is an ex-gratia payment and therefore non-contractual. One may have to make the case … Continue Reading

The 2009 Pre-Budget Report in December signalled a significant number of tax increases in the UK designed to make up the significant Budget deficit following the banking crisis. For many or our clients there will be a significant impact on their finances.-Income tax rates to rise and personal allowances to reduce for wealthier clients. -Future changes to rates applicable for dividends, trusts and NICs. -New 50% income tax band. There are further complicated rules for pension relief restriction and the end of well-established tax breaks for furnished holiday lettings (currently enjoying business tax advantages). There … Continue Reading

Sometimes we know what is going to happen but we just carry on anyway to see if we are right, even if we get nothing out of it except the satisfaction of being prescient. So it was the other night when events unfolded as expected.It began with a telephone call from the wife of a former client whom I had dug out of a big hole he had got himself into. She said she was starting a business and was worried about tax issues. Could I visit her? “The initial consultation is free isn’t it?” I already knew … Continue Reading

I have been writing elsewhere about the dangers of using templates and adapting borrowed contracts and agreements rather than paying for professionals to draw up new ones. It is time to be specific.With regard to partnership business assets, there are generous, though one might say prudent, reliefs from inheritance tax which can amount to 100% of the value of the capital account and 50% of the share of buildings, land, and plant and machinery. That means that the heirs have the opportunity to receive up to the whole value of a deceased partner’s share of a business, … Continue Reading

I had a telephone call this week from a chap who said “I am phoning because I want to start a company”. My immediate reaction after thanking him for the call was to ask why he needed a company, if he meant a limited company. This is because from the tax point of view it is not necessarily a good idea to have a company, and there needs to be a commercial reason if profits are going to be limited initially or there might be trading losses which would be useful to an individual who is a current taxpayer-employee, or … Continue Reading