Make the most from the money you earn and the assets you own with efficient and effective tax planning from Black and White Accounting.

Tax planning definition

The standard definition of tax planning is to make the best use of the allowances and reliefs available to you and your family so that you minimise the level of tax you pay in the immediate future and over the longer term.

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Tax planning – individuals

There are dozens of different ways in which an individual (and the family they belong to) can use tax planning to ensure that they only pay the minimum amount of tax and so that they preserve as much of their wealth for transfer and bequethment, including: 

• Better use of personal allowances – for individuals earning £100,000 (the point at which the personal allowance begins to decrease)
• Capital gain and loss management – there may be a benefit in transferring a chargeable asset to a spouse of civil partner to reduce CGT liability or to offset a spouse or a civil partner’s capital losses
• Deeds of variations – they can be helpful in reducing inheritance tax liability but they must be used carefully
• Earn £150,000 or more? Gift aid donations and pension contributions may reduce the amount of tax payable by additional rate taxpayers
• Gift Aid – one of the most valuable tax reliefs, donations can be carried back to previous years to reduce tax liability
• IHT exempt transfers – make the most efficient use of annual transfers, small gifts, gifts in consideration of marriage, and normal expenditure out of income.
• Inheritance tax planning – it’s never too early to start planning to reduce or eliminate inheritance tax liability
• Jointly owned property – you can be assessed on income derived from jointly held properties regardless of being taxed according to actual beneficial interest
• Tax credits – particularly useful for households with fluctuating incomes. As tax credits can only be backdated by one month every year, accountant-led planning will maximise the tax credit income to you.

For more information on our tax planning for individuals and families, please use the form below, call us free on 0800 140 4644, or email [email protected].

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Tax planning – companies

There are many different ways in which a company can use tax planning to keep more of its available funds including:

• Business Property Relief – one of the most valuable reliefs available, seek advice from us on BPR qualification and what you need to do prior to an IHT even
• Entrepreneurs’ Relief – take advantage of a very low effective rate of tax when selling your business or parts thereof
• Incorporation – choose the most appropriate vehicle for each of your revenue generating activities (sole trader, partnership, limited company, LLP)
• Loss reliefs – losses can be carried back to offset against previous years’ profits, forward, or sideways
• Patent box claims – reduce corporation tax to 10% on profits derived from your qualifying patent interests
• R&D claims – many companies undertake work or projects on which there is a significant risk of failure because they’re attempting to achieve a breakthrough against a backdrop or technological or scientific uncertainty
• Succession planning – significant savings on tax can be achieved by using the most efficient corporate structure (singular or group). This also has a beneficial effect when passing ownership to existing key management, to a purchaser, or to the next generation of your family members.
• Tax efficient cash extraction – strategic timing on the booking of profits and expenses also offers significant cash flow benefits
• Use of capital allowances – maximise the use of allowances particularly on property developments, property refurbishments, property purchases, and property sales

For more information on our tax planning for business, please use the form below, call us free on 0800 140 4644, or email [email protected].

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Tax planning examples

Tax planning advice and tax planning strategies differ according to each clients and the outcomes they wish to achieve as a result.

Typical situations to which we apply our tax planning methods for clients include:

• R&D tax credits – claim 125% on qualifying R&D costs. Many businesses contact us to find out whether any of their internal processes or projects will qualify for relief. You would be surprised at how many clients do not realise that they are eligible for this significant enhanced tax deduction.

• Pensions contributions – there are both personal and corporate tax advantages to increasing your pension contributions.

• Staff incentivisation – employee share ownership schemes like the Enterprise Management Incentive (EMI) give key staff members a compelling reason to stay and grow your business.

Income shifting – more efficient allocation of income streams from private companies, bank accounts, rental property, and portfolio investments between married couples and civil partners.

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Tax planning accountant in Hampshire and Surrey

The UK tax system is complicated and even the savviest of individuals struggle to take full advantage of it. Let us perform a full tax planning MOT on you and your current financial structuring to see what you’re already doing well and to discover areas for potential improvement.

For more information about our tax planning management service including for tax planning in retirement, please use the form below, call us free on 0800 140 4644, or email [email protected]. 

Black and White Accounting is an accountancy and business consulting practice based with offices in Hampshire and Surrey. We work with thousands of individuals and companies for a fixed monthly fee.