Business Owners

We advise owner-managed companies on how they are structured, which reliefs they can claim and how the owners eventually step back. That covers corporate restructuring, holding companies, linked investment companies, demergers, R&D tax credits, the Patent Box, EIS and SEIS, exit planning, succession and retirement planning, and HMRC enquiries. Each piece is advised personally by a Chartered Tax Adviser, so the parts fit together instead of being handled in separate boxes.

There is no turnover threshold. The trigger is usually a decision: taking on investors, buying another company, building up cash you do not need, bringing in family or looking ahead to a sale. Advice is cheapest and most effective before those steps, because some reliefs depend on how the company has been run for the previous two years or more. A free first call is a low-pressure way to find out whether you are at that point.

Several valuable reliefs depend on the facts over a past period, not just on the day of a sale. Business Asset Disposal Relief needs the trading and ownership conditions to be met throughout the two years before the sale, and the substantial shareholding exemption needs twelve months of qualifying ownership. A restructure done too late can be effective in law yet too late to help. Doing things in sequence is much of what planning means.

Not always, but it is often worth considering early. A holding company can let the trading company pay surplus cash up tax-free, keep investments away from trading risk and give you more flexibility on a sale. Whether it suits you depends on your goals, your shareholders and any property or investments involved. We compare it with the alternatives, including leaving the structure alone, before recommending anything.

Your accountant keeps your records, files your returns and handles day-to-day compliance. We work on the structuring and relief questions that sit on top of that: whether the group is organised well, which clearances to seek and how a sale or succession will be taxed. We are happy to work alongside your accountant and often do, so you keep your existing relationship.

Yes. Many owners come to us before incorporating, or when deciding whether a company would now pay off. The answer depends on profit levels, how much you need to draw personally and what you plan to do with the business later. We set out the options in plain English, including the cases where staying unincorporated is the right call.

There is no single best way. For 2026/27, dividends are taxed at 10.75%, 35.75% or 39.35% depending on your band, after a £500 allowance, so many owners mix salary, dividends, pension contributions and leaving profits in the company. A loan from the company that is not repaid in time can leave the company with its own charge of 35.75%. The right mix depends on what you need personally and what the company wants to do with the cash.

Yes, and it is usually better to. Business Relief gives 100% inheritance tax relief on the first £2.5m of qualifying business assets per person from 6 April 2026, and 50% above that, but the relief can be restricted if the company holds too much cash or investments. Those same facts affect a sale. Planning the two together avoids fixing one problem while creating another.

Depending on what you do, they can include R&D tax relief for qualifying innovation, the Patent Box for profits from patented inventions, and EIS and SEIS to help investors back your company. Each has detailed conditions and none is automatic. We look at which genuinely fit your activities, and we are careful not to push claims that would not stand up if HMRC asked questions.

Ideally two to three years before you expect to sell, and sooner if you want to change the structure. Some conditions for reliefs run for two years or more, buyers look closely at the last few years of accounts, and restructures need time for clearances. If a sale arrives unexpectedly, we can still help, but you will have fewer options.

The tax questions change from how much you keep on a sale to how to hand over value with the least tax and the least disruption. That can involve gifts, share classes, trusts, Business Relief and your own retirement income. Planning early also lets you test whether the next generation wants the business before you commit.

Yes. If HMRC opens an enquiry into your company, your personal return or a relief claim, we can take over the correspondence, assess the exposure and work towards a resolution. Acting early and responding accurately usually leads to a better outcome than leaving a letter unanswered. Our HMRC enquiries service covers companies, directors and shareholders.

Yes, and most restructures need all three of us. Your solicitor drafts the legal documents, your accountant deals with the accounts and filings, and we design the tax plan and deal with HMRC. We brief each adviser on what the tax plan needs from them, so nothing falls between the gaps.

Corporate restructuring is the wider heading: any reorganisation of who owns what, including mergers, transfers of businesses, share exchanges and splits. A holding company is one common result, where a new parent company sits above one or more trading companies. Many restructures end with a holding company, but some do not need one, and some involve other steps instead.

Yes. Our Transaction Tax service covers the tax side of acquisitions, disposals and investments, including structuring the deal and the sale proceeds. For the owner's own position before a sale, our Exit Planning service looks at how much you are likely to keep and how the structure could be improved first.

It depends on the work, so we do not quote a standard price. After a free first call we confirm the scope and the fee in writing before any work starts, so you know where you stand. The aim is that the advice pays for itself in tax saved or risk avoided, and we tell you plainly if we do not think it will.

Using reliefs that Parliament has written into law, in the way they were intended, is legitimate and normal. The line is crossed by artificial arrangements whose main purpose is to avoid tax. Recent legislation, including a main purpose test for share exchanges and reconstructions, makes that line firmer. We stay on the right side of it, and where useful we seek HMRC clearance in advance.

A rough picture is enough: what the company does, who owns it, roughly what it earns, whether it holds property or investments, and what you want to happen over the next few years. Recent accounts help if you have them, but you do not need to prepare a pack. The first call is free.

Yes, that is the most common starting point. Business owners rarely arrive with a tidy label, so we start with your situation and goals and work out which of the services apply. Our Business Lifecycle page also walks through the stages from start-up to exit, which can help you see where you are now.