How does a Chartered Accountant help you in tax planning
by Aarif Habeeb Digital Marketing Strategist and Content writerThe UK tax regime is
notoriously complex, and all too often business owners find themselves lost in
a maze of constantly evolving legislation.
Tax
can be a considerable
cost to profitable businesses and individuals.
Tax planning for businesses
is imperative as these costs include the tax itself as well as the costs of
complying with reporting obligations, dealing with enquiries from the tax
authorities and penalties for non-compliance.
A
Chartered Accountant
(CA) plays a very notable role in your tax planning, by relieving you of the
administrative burdens and can advise you on how to minimise your tax
liabilities with their tax efficiency advice.
Here
we will explore more areas where a CA can help you in tax planning,
A CA can help with all areas of tax planning,
including:
·
Deciding
on a tax-efficient structure
·
Making
the most of allowances and reliefs
·
Reducing
tax on disposals
·
Maximising
tax relief on acquisitions
·
Liaising
with the authorities on your behalf
· Assisting
with compliance requirements, including corporation tax self-assessment
A CA can also help to ensure that your personal
wealth is managed as tax-efficiently as possible, offering advice in such areas
as:
· Minimising
tax liability for personal taxes, including income tax, capital gains tax,
inheritance tax and non-domiciliary taxes
·
Completion
and filing of relevant tax returns
·
Advice
on which payments are due
·
Advice
on trusts and estate planning
Capital gains tax
Whether
you are selling shares, your property or other assets, a Chartered
Accountant can explain how capital gains tax works,
calculate the liability and advice you of any reliefs to reduce your tax bill.
Corporation tax
Every
company registered is required to pay taxes on its profits. A company usually
prepares and submits its corporation tax return on annually basis to HMRC.
An
accountant
will prepare the company tax computation and tax return (CT600), submit these
with your accounts to the HMRC and advice you of tax liabilities due.
An
accountant will point out any opportunities for savings, from claiming
additional reliefs to restructuring your affairs in a more tax-efficient way.
A
Chartered
Accountant can conduct a review of the company’s position
shortly before the accounting date to advise you of tax-saving measures that
can be put in place before year-end.
HMRC enquiries
Enquiries
into the tax affairs by HM Revenue & Customs can be a very intimidating
experience.
The
HMRC is entitled to enquire into your tax affairs at random, and as such, they
never say why they are investigating.
Their
random enquiries are generated by computer so they may investigate without even
a suspicion of anything being wrong, but none of this eases the stress.
Your
CA can help by acting as an intermediary between you and the HMRC, reviewing
their interpretations of your financial transactions as well as their
interpretation of tax law.
A Chartered Accountant
will handle correspondence with the HMRC, keeping you informed at all stages,
and negotiating on your behalf so as to minimise the disruption to you.
Income Tax & National
Insurance
A
Chartered
Accountant can prepare your self assessment tax return and
calculate liabilities to income tax and national insurance each year.
A
CA on board will advise you of the due dates for payment and will point out any
opportunities for savings, from claiming additional allowances or credits to
restructuring your affairs in a more tax-efficient manner.
VAT
A
CA will assist in the preparation of VAT returns, advise on the rules and
assist with VAT visits and the response to queries.
Your
Chartered
Accountant will advise on elections such as an option to
tax, use of specific schemes and assist with any other VAT matters.
Overall a Chartered Accountant
understand the taxation complexities so that,
·
Where
the law provides an opportunity for tax mitigation, they can advise you on such
opportunities
·
Where
unusual circumstances exist which enable you to access favourable reliefs and
outcomes, an accountant can design your tax plans to maximise any benefit.
A CA presents your affairs in an accurate
and compliant way and protects you from penalties for non-compliance, which is
as essential now as it has ever been.
Effective tax planning requires
knowledge, instinct and experience in an arena with inexact parameters.
A Chartered Accountant has these
attributes in abundance and is well-placed to minimise the current and future
tax burdens of you, legitimately and in accordance with their overall
commercial and domestic plans.
Final
thought
In short, if you are starting out in business or
running an established business, a CA can help to ensure that all of the
initial registration requirements are met and help you to plan for future
liabilities by explaining the tax system in the plain language. Thus, it is very
beneficial to hire a
Chartered Accountant to run your business with ease and
lead it towards sustainable growth.
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Created on Apr 20th 2021 07:17. Viewed 604 times.