With the tax regime becoming more complex and more emphasis being put on taxpayers’ individual responsibilities, everyone who is subject to taxation needs professional advice and support if they are to optimise their tax position and ensure they meet all the compliance requirements.

We are the tax specialists. We can provide you with year round tax advice on:

• Income tax
• Capital Gains tax
• Inheritance tax
• Trusts and estates
• Non-domiciliary tax issues

Every pound of income tax you save means more income at your disposal, every well planned disposal of assets means minimal loss of capital gains, and every inheritance tax saving means more benefit for your beneficiaries.

Make sure you take full advantage of the tax saving opportunities open to you - call us today for a personal tax planning meeting.

Corporation tax

Under Corporation Tax Self Assessment (CTSA), the legal responsibility for correctly calculating the corporation tax liability falls on business owners. Joshua Leigh & Co can advise your business on statutory requirements and the most efficient ways of fulfilling these obligations, as well as preparing your corporate tax returns. We will also calculate your company’s tax liability and assist with the calculation of any quarterly instalment payments.

The increased reporting obligations, investigation policies on the part of the tax authorities and harsher penalties for non-compliance, mean that your time and resources can be taken up with tax administration. We will help to minimise corporate tax exposure and relieve the administrative burden of compliance with current tax legislation. Effective corporate tax planning can also result in significant improvements in your bottom line.

We advise many companies on the most tax-efficient ways to structure their affairs and ensure that all available reliefs are utilised.

Whatever your goals are for your business, our specialists can use their experience and expertise to identify a tax-efficient way to achieve these goals.

We can help you with any communication with HM Revenue & Customs, mergers and acquisitions, business start-ups and disposals, succession planning, raising funds, incentivising and retaining your key staff, and valuing assets and shares for tax and other fiscal purposes.

Our corporate tax services include:

• Computerised tax returns and computations

• Tax-efficient remuneration schemes

• Structuring or restructuring your company’s activities

• Capital allowance reviews

• Raising finance

• Succession planning

• Company sales and management buyouts

• Rewarding employees

• International tax planning

Looking for a VAT Accountant?

Here’s a Value Added Tax (VAT) Update from VAT Accountant Joshua Leigh & Co.

This is the first of regular ‘tax blogs’ that will be posted on the Joshua Leigh & Co website and we hope that you will find them useful. This first blog alerts you to some of the important changes to Value Added Tax (VAT) which are applicable from April 2012.

Compulsory VAT registration

• Businesses are required to register for VAT when their total sales (known as ‘taxable turnover’) for the last 12 months (or since the start of trade if earlier) exceeds £77,000 (up from £73,000).

• Where this occurs the business should notify HM Revenue & Customs within 30 days of the end of the month in which the turnover exceeds £77,000. In normal circumstances a business would then be registered for VAT from the first day of the following month.

• Unregistered businesses which are close to the £77,000 limit should monitor their turnover for the last 12 months at the end of every month and take action accordingly.

• The intention is to make on-line VAT registration compulsory from the 31 October 2012.

Voluntary VAT registration

• A person can apply to HMRC to be registered voluntarily even though the turnover is below the mandatory limit.

• Although voluntary registration allows a business to reclaim most of its input tax, it will of course be subject to the same obligations regarding accounting for VAT and submitting VAT returns as a compulsorily registered business.

VAT returns

• From 1 April 2012 all VAT registered businesses are required to submit their VAT returns on-line and pay any VAT due electronically.

• Further details can be found at: http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/vat/vat-online/index.htm Other

VAT Changes

• A number of VAT changes with a view to addressing certain anomalies and loopholes concerning hot take-away food, sports drinks, chair rental in hairdressing salons and holiday caravans are to be introduced from 1 October 2012.