PrivateClient

Personal Tax Compliance

Our personal tax department is made up of highly qualified individuals, several of whom have worked at Shorts for many years.  This allows us to offer both continuity of service and a detailed knowledge and understanding of our clients’ personal tax circumstances.

You can be confident that if you provide us with all the information required for your return, we will do the rest.  It is our aim to complete all personal tax returns as early as possible, allowing us time to explore any relevant tax planning opportunities.

We provide a comprehensive service for clients, from straightforward returns to those with more complex tax affairs.

We understand the importance of engaging advisers you can trust and at Shorts, we are focused on ensuring you receive the very best advice and service.

Personal Tax Planning

One of our particular strengths is to combine a number of different approaches when reviewing our client’s financial affairs. Many of our private clients receive advice that covers one or more of the following aspects.

Income tax planning

We can create an income tax planning strategy tailored to your personal circumstances.  This could include maximising your (and your spouse’s) personal allowances, utilising all available reliefs, and considering the timing of income where possible, to prevent excessive tax liabilities arising.

Capital gains tax planning

The disposal or transfer of shares or assets may generate a capital gains tax liability, but careful consideration prior to the disposal can help minimise this possibility.  Our team can consider your situation and ensure you fully utilise annual exemptions, reliefs and any losses.   It is important to seek advice with adequate time to review circumstances and implement any recommended planning before any transaction takes place.

Inheritance tax planning

A major concern for successful individuals is often the issue of inheritance tax.  Shorts can help you to preserve your wealth for future generations with the implementation of tax efficient and effective strategies.  We would wish to establish a deep understanding of your current financial position and long-term aspirations.  From this, we could create a strategy to manage and protect your estate, whilst also providing sufficient capital upon which to live comfortably.

Tax planning for trusts

As trusts are often subject to separate income tax, capital gains tax, inheritance tax and compliance rules, compared to individuals, it is important that trustees have access to specialist trust tax advice.  Our team includes STEP qualified individuals enabling us to advise trustees and/or beneficiaries coherently on the creation, maintenance and winding-up of trusts as appropriate.

Wills, Trusts and Estates

Whether or not you consider yourself to be wealthy, it is important to make a Will.  If you were to die without one, the distribution of your estate will be determined by law, and this may not be in accordance with your wishes.  For example, an unmarried partner has no automatic entitlement, and wider family, friends or charities will not inherit.

Shorts has an experienced team of tax and legally qualified advisers, who are dedicated to looking after your personal and business interests. By safeguarding assets for the long-term and structuring of Wills and trusts tax efficiently, we can meet your objectives.  And we often bring ideas to the discussion which may not have been previously considered.

Although it might be considered unusual for an accountancy practice to prepare Wills for its clients, we see this as a natural extension to the services we offer our private clients. We gain a deeper understanding of their needs and objectives, often through many years of working together.  This allows us to provide the most appropriate Will for their circumstances, and then to review it at appropriate intervals.

We also prepare Lasting Powers of Attorney which can cover both financial and health/welfare aspects. For our clients with business interests, we can also advise how LPAs can be used in the commercial environment.

HMRC Tax Investigations

Nobody likes thinking about the prospect of an HMRC Investigation, but enquiries are on the increase. In 2018/19, over £34.1bn was collected by HMRC from investigations and enquiries alone, and it doesn’t matter whether you are an individual or a business, HMRC can open an enquiry into your tax affairs at any time.

As your dedicated accountant, we’re here to help you manage any tax enquiries you might receive. It is vital to be led by specialist advice and guidance when dealing with HMRC. We will be able to translate the many complicated questions the taxman may pose, manage the entire conversation with the taxman, help you submit any required information and minimise the impact on your business or personal life.

However, the cost of supporting you throughout an investigation is not covered in our usual accountancy fees; this is where our professional fee protection service comes in. Spend a little now to potentially save a lot later and take the stress, time and professional costs out of a tax investigation.