Family business owners, trustees, beneficiaries, entrepreneurs, non doms, high earners, inherited wealth.

Tax advice. Planning for the future.

What I do

My main area of work is advising business owners in relation to their personal wealth, taxes, trusts and succession plans (such as sale, private equity investment or passing to the children). I also advise those with wealth generated by a business sale, divorce or inheritance.

This includes inheritance tax, income tax, capital gains tax and trust taxation. It also includes facilitating family meetings and resolving issues that may arise when the combination of wealth and family causes tensions in family relationships or business.

I also advise on residence, domicile and the remittance basis (for those who are resident but not domiciled in the UK) and tax risk areas, such as anti-avoidance rules.

I can also act as bridge, connecting you and your other advisers, often referred to as a “family office”. This can be coordinating the advice, knowing what questions to ask, collating the relevant information, simplifying the presentation of results to you and leading the project management.

What I don’t do

I do not give advice in the following areas but can recommend individuals and firms to assist you and work alongside them: stamp duty land tax, VAT, payroll, employment taxes and tax investigations.

I don’t recommend aggressive tax planning (but can explain tax and practical reasons why you shouldn’t enter into a tax scheme or how to settle an old one with HMRC).

I do not give financial services advice but can recommend suitably qualified chartered financial planners. I prepare trust accounts but do not provide other bookkeeping, accounts, audits or companies house filings.

Location

Most of my clients are based in Cheshire, Lancashire, Greater Manchester or London; with some in Yorkshire, Edinburgh, Jersey and Switzerland.

Services for lawyers and accountants

In addition to the direct client work above, I also provide support to lawyers and accountants on UK and offshore trusts, inheritance tax, business property relief, capital gains tax, anti-avoidance rules, divorce tax issues and settling historic tax schemes with HMRC.

Examples of recent activity include historic inheritance tax ten year charges; business property relief reviews; divorce capital gains tax; importing and collapsing overseas trusts; shareholder restructuring tax clearances; private company sales; and complex personal tax returns.

Where there is an underlying client I will need confirmation that the law or accountancy firm has identified their client in accordance with the money laundering regulations and have a copy of that ID for my file.

Services for offshore trustees and corporate service providers

For offshore trusts and companies I advise on UK tax exposure, including anti-avoidance rules and residence issues, for settlors, trustees, beneficiaries, shareholders and directors.

Recent work includes income tax exposure for UK shareholders in Jersey resident trading companies, a tax review for a UK beneficiary of an old Isle of Man trust and advice to offshore trustees on UK tax reporting obligations for themselves and the settlor, including domicile issues.

My offshore work tends to be focussed on situations where the key advice involves a UK resident linked to the offshore structure (eg settlor or beneficiary), rather than wholly non-UK families with UK assets.