FAQs

Yes, to give you time for business as usual, we can manage the buyout to completion. Although our support doesn’t stop there, we’ll guide you through the transition and touch base for months to come. Please get in touch for a confidential discussion about developing your succession plan.

Once the Heads of Terms are signed, the Due Diligence (“DD”) process begins. This is the buyer’s opportunity to have a detailed look at the business, reviewing everything from financial and tax position to employees, contracts, and customers. Think of it as looking under the hood of the business, how it works and any potential issues that could arise.

It is also an opportunity for the seller to disclose information that may be relevant to the buyer and that might not be obvious from the documents provided. Doing this early can prevent issues later on in the process or after the sale.

The DD process can be an intense period for both the sellers and the business, especially if not prepared for it. It can require significant time and effort from key staff of the business such as your accountant or HR manager who may not directly benefit from the transaction. It will require them to be discreet to avoid disrupting the business or the deal.

It is important that key staff are brought into the transaction early, to help this process go smoothly, and it is not uncommon for these individuals to be rewarded for their efforts through bonuses or other incentives.

Professional advisers play a critical role in the process, answering complex questions, managing outsourced areas of DD with accuracy, speed and aligned with your requirements.

Yes. The cash flow available for debt service (CFADS) represents the cash the business has available to service debt (interest and principal repayments) after necessary operational outflows. In a management buyout, the buying management team often uses leveraged finance (debt) to fund the acquisition. Lenders and equity investors will look at CFADS to assess:

• Debt repayment capacity – does the business generate enough free cash flow?
• Debt sizing – how much debt can the business support without distress?
• Covenant compliance – will CFADS stay strong enough to meet loan covenants?

Whether you have engaged a corporate finance adviser to market your business for a sale or received an unsolicited offer, the Heads of Terms (“HoT”) sets out the fundamentals of their offer to you. They outline the consideration payable for the shares (or trade and assets), any expectations for key staff or seller to remain in the business, payment terms for deferred consideration and any exclusivity period for the offer, amongst other things.

While the HoTs are not legally binding, they do indicate a commitment from both sides. From this point onwards, both buyer and seller are acting in good faith, will start to incur significant professional fees, so getting the fundamentals right early is crucial. Once agreed, it can be difficult to deviate from key terms established in the HoTs, and therefore it is always worth considering taking professional advice on these to protect your position and minimise renegotiation through the process.

HMRC has been instructed to show increased leniency regarding time to pay arrangements for taxation payments and a dedicated helpline has been set up for any businesses concerned about their ability to make future payments (0800 015 9559). This allows businesses a time-limited deferral period on HMRC liabilities that are owed and a pre-agreed time period to pay these sums back. These tailored arrangements will give a business the time it needs to pay HMRC to support their recovery while operating through any temporary financial challenges that occur. To ensure ongoing support, HMRC have made a further 2,000 experienced call handlers available to support firms in difficulty. HMRC will also waive late payment penalties and late payment interest where businesses experience difficulties contacting HMRC or paying taxes due to COVID-19.

Double taxation can often be avoided through tax treaties between the UK and other countries. Our international tax accountants help our clients understand how to apply tax reliefs and credits available under these treaties to minimise their tax exposure.

Our personal tax advisers have a variety of specialisms, such as international affairs, business exits, professional practices, trusts and estates, and land and agriculture. You’ll benefit from a dedicated manager experienced in capital gains tax, inheritance tax, income tax and tax compliance. It’s why many of our clients have been with us for decades.

You might not know that you need to complete a residential property tax return within 60 days of selling a property. You may need advice on the tax reliefs when buying or selling assets, help with reporting one-off transactions, or support managing disclosures of income or gains not previously declared. Whatever your situation, we bring a fresh perspective with tax advice that protects your wealth while meeting your obligations.

Every business, whether a limited company, partnership or sole trader, must prepare annual accounts to fulfil its legal obligations. You’re in safe hands with our expert team. They’ll prepare and interpret your accounts and advise you on mitigating your tax liabilities, including preparation and submission of corporation tax returns, account payments and HM Revenue & Customs enquiries. We can also help you optimise any tax reliefs and allowances.

We’ll design a buyout that suits everyone, considering business valuation, ownership structure, finance options and tax. Your successor will also have our support with funding options – ranging from bank and equity finance to loan notes, which are essentially an IOU to you.

We can bring in reliable solicitors and business tax experts to ensure your business succession is watertight and tax-efficient.

Yes, we can. Dealing with the complexities of the UK tax system can be stressful. The last thing you want is to be worrying about completing your tax return or making sure your assets or estate are correctly dealt with.

Optimising spendable income is a priority for us all. Understanding genuine opportunities to mitigate income tax achieves this. Working with our team, we’ll help you review your position pragmatically every year to improve your financial future. Clarity is key. There are always opportunities to protect allowances or to restructure assets and income. It’s time to shine a light on them, including:

• Optimising allowances
• Gift Aid
• Pension contributions
• Asset and income restructuring between spouses (and civil partners)
• Personal income cash flow reviews
• Timing of dividend payments
• Profit extraction
• Personal business structure
• The use of family investment companies
• Deferral investments.

If you’re non-domiciled, we also deal with UK taxation, the application of the Statutory Residency Test and residency queries when moving to and leaving the UK.

Working with our tax team means you’ll have access to the gold standard of technical competence when it comes to ever-changing tax legislation. We ensure tax compliance for clients, professional advisers and work with trust companies, family offices, banks, and Independent Financial Advisers(IFAs).

Whatever stage of life you’re at, we’ll help you get the most out of your money, now and in the future. Corresponding with HMRC can be a lengthy and onerous process; we are more than happy to act on your behalf. We can also lift the pressure when things go wrong, taking the heat out of enquiries.

The first step is understanding whether a trust still works for you. Do you need this trust? Is it still doing what it was designed to do? Has the original reason for setting it up changed? We assess both UK and offshore structures and give you an honest view on whether the arrangement still offers the protection and planning benefits you need.

Beyond that, we run the trust properly, including accounts, distributions and beneficiary tax return documentation, so you have confidence that everything is in order.

Reclaiming VAT on overseas expenses or cross-border trade can be complex. Our specialists can advise on the correct treatment, eligibility for reclaims, and help ensure compliance with VAT rules.