welcome to HawkinsThomas Wealth
Corporate Services.
When you’re running a business, there just aren’t enough hours in the day. You’ve put time, dedication, and determination into building your business. Not surprisingly, the more it succeeds, the more complex financial management becomes.
learn more about HawkinsThomas Wealth
About Corporate Services.
Businesses are demanding – sometimes at the expense of your own financial wellbeing, or that of your employees. We also make sure that we look after you as the Company Director. The more you achieve at work, the more you may earn – and managing that extra money can become more complex too.
You could do with a helping hand to take the pressure off and give you some peace of mind.
Our Corporate Services are designed to make sure you have all aspects of managing company finances covered; from auto-enrolment**, scaling up tax-efficiently, to planning your exit strategy.*
Careful planning for the long-term is key to managing your finances confidently. Our specialised Corporate Services will help you achieve that.
Let’s get the right plans in place. That way, we will help to build and protect everybody’s financial wellbeing.
In October 2012, the UK Government introduced workplace pension reforms, known as Auto Enrolment. Over the course of a phasing-in period, all employers were required to auto-enrol all eligible employees into a Qualifying Workplace Pension Scheme.
As a company director or business owner, it’s your obligation to understand which schemes qualify, the process involved, how they’re structured and the regulations you must comply with.
Since April 2019, employer contributions have been a minimum of 3%. Member contributions are at least 5% (this includes 1% rate tax relief). This gives a total pension contribution of 8%.
To help you meet your obligations, we will take the time to understand the finer details of your business, as well as your personal plans and ambitions for the future. We will carefully explain the issues and requirements around workplace pensions and offer guidance to help ensure your business is fully compliant and working within the rules.
WHY ACT NOW?
- Your existing scheme might be poor value or might even be unfit for purpose. You might need to change it or make it more efficient.
- Budgeting in advance will allow you to prepare for and minimise costs.
- Strategic Planning will let you find the best solution for your staff.
- Employee communication – they need to know what’s going on
- Consider Salary Exchange – it could save you money
- Making sure you meet your regulatory requirements can protect you from penalties of up to £10,000 per day for larger companies.
- Be one step ahead and beat the rush
There are plenty of solutions available, and it is important to note that the most obvious one might not be the right one for you.
Many companies outsource their VAT returns. Automatic enrolment is much more complex than this and can carry greater penalties. But it’s something we can help with. Contact us to talk through your pensions needs.
The value of a pension will be directly linked to the performance of the funds you select and the value can therefore go down as well as up. You may get back less than you invested.
The levels and bases of taxation, and reliefs from taxation, can change at any time. The value of any tax relief depends on individual circumstances.
Auto-Enrolment products are not regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.
Should the worst happen to a key director or employee, there can be far-reaching or even disastrous consequences. It’s natural that your main concern will be for them, but at the same time you can’t afford to ignore the effect this could have on your business.
When something beyond your control happens in your business, negative impacts can include:
- Loss of profits
- Recall of loans
- Reduced capacity and productivity
- Loss of key clients/contacts
- Reduced practical know-how.
Wise planning and insurance are the best ways to mitigate for these kinds of events.
Having the right insurances in place and making sure they’re reviewed regularly and updated as your business evolves can be challenging. Most businesses find they need some degree of help to make sure everything is planned and organised correctly.
As part of our corporate service, we will undertake an in-depth review of your business. We will then work with you to put in place a tailored insurance programme to help protect your business from a wide range of risks.
If you own shares in your business, your focus is probably on working with your fellow shareholders to maximise your profits. But if something unexpected happened to you, would your beneficiaries share the same business goals?
Your fellow shareholders might have to work with partners who have little or no interest in the business. Or your beneficiaries could find themselves owning shares that nobody is prepared to buy.
As always, effective planning is key to avoid situations like these.
We will find out exactly what you need and talk through ways you could give your fellow shareholders the means to buy your shares and let your beneficiaries realise the market value of your shareholding.
This is known as share purchase assurance. It’s an element of succession planning that deals with the purchase and sale of shares following the death of a shareholder.
The arrangement makes sure that surviving directors can receive your shares when you die and keep the business going without external or inexperienced shareholders getting involved. Your estate will also receive a cash sum for the value of those shares.
Deciding whether share purchase is needed – including how it should be structured – is fundamental to the process. We will help you make that decision.
Clear and effective benefits and renumeration play a key role in recruiting and retaining top-quality team members.
Before making a recommendation, we spend time to understand your business and work out a cost-effective strategy that will fit with your plans.
You’ll have access to advice from a range of providers, carefully selected and monitored by SJP.
This includes advice on:
- Online statements – helping employees to understand and appreciate the cost of the benefits you provide.
- Flexible benefits – letting employees create a benefits package that meets their individual needs.
- Salary sacrifice arrangements – helping employees to access tax-efficient benefits while reducing National Insurance costs.
- Private medical insurance – for your employees' health and wellbeing, reducing absence from work while waiting for treatment.
Group Life, Income Protection and Critical Illness
These are important benefits that are a key part of a comprehensive employee benefits package. They also mean you can manage your business more effectively by:
- Giving you the means to financially support your employees and their families at a particularly difficult time.
- Allowing you to recruit temporary employees.
- Providing access to a range of rehabilitation services, employee assistance programmes and absence management services.
The levels and bases of taxation, and reliefs from taxation, can change at any time. The value of any tax relief depends on individual circumstances.
As a business owner, we understand how important it is for you to support the financial wellbeing of yourself and your family, your business and your employees.
We can help.
Some of the areas we can discuss:
- Group pension plans for colleagues and employees. These are an attractive recruitment tool as well as a justifiable business expense.
- Salary sacrifice arrangements that provide cost-effective pension planning opportunities for employees, while reducing employer National Insurance costs.
- Executive pension arrangements, enabling you and your family to reap the rewards from the success of your business.
- Cost-effective trustee-based arrangements that transfer scheme liability to a new pension arrangement, securing employee pension rights.
As you’ll know, some of the options are quite complex so we will take the time to understand your needs before recommending a solution that will enable you to benefit from the success of your business.
The value of a pension will be directly linked to the performance of the funds selected and may fall as well as rise. You may get back less than the amount initially invested.
The levels and bases of taxation and reliefs from taxation can change at any time and are dependent on individual circumstances
Nobody wants to pay any more tax than they need to.
There are simple steps a company owner can take to reduce Corporation Tax liability. These are acceptable tax mitigation steps, not illegal tax evasion. Some of the main points to consider are:
Company pension contributions
Making pension contributions is one of the most effective pieces of tax-efficient planning a company can undertake. The contributions a company makes to a pension scheme are usually fully allowable in calculating the profits chargeable to corporation tax.
Remuneration
It’s important to regularly review how you draw income out of your company. It’s worth considering reducing salary to a level where you can still claim state benefits and then maximising the use of dividends. The advantages of paying a dividend are that they don’t attract National Insurance contributions and have no tax consequences for your company.
Claiming Allowances
It’s essential that a company claims all available allowances to reduce Corporation Tax. Amongst the most common allowances that are either not claimed or only partially claimed are Research and Development Relief and Capital Allowances. It’s worth getting expert advice here to make sure you receive all the allowances you’re entitled to.
The value of an investment with St. James's Place will be directly linked to the performance of the funds you select and the value can therefore go down as well as up. You may get back less than you invested.
The levels and bases of taxation and reliefs from taxation can change at any time and are dependent on individual circumstances.
Many company owners put in a lifetime of hard work into building their business, only to throw away some of the rewards by failing to fully consider how they will exit – both financially and as a leader.
Sound management over several years will add value to your business and let you begin your exit relatively quickly when the time is right.
You’ll need to concentrate on the following key areas to ensure a smooth exit:
- Aim for a year-on-year increase in profits – reducing profits to cut Corporation Tax liabilities may make short-term sense, but it could harm your business’s perceived value.
- Ensure your accounts are in order and up to date, giving a true picture of the business. It pays to be ready for any due diligence that may be needed later.
- Look to expand your range of customers and suppliers – over-reliance on a few key customers will undermine your business’s value.
- Aim to tie key customers, suppliers, staff and managers to long-term contracts.
- Maximise your relief for Capital Gains Tax (CGT) – you might be able to claim entrepreneurs’ relief, which reduces the effective rate of CGT.
- Consider avoiding substantial holdings in property, shares or leaving money in the bank, which may disqualify you from this relief.
The levels and bases of taxation and reliefs from taxation can change at any time and are dependent on individual circumstances.
Please note that advice on exit strategy planning might involve the referral to a service that is separate and distinct to those offered by us.
Get in touch with HawkinsThomas Wealth
Get started with us today.
HawkinsThomas Wealth, together with St. James’s Place plc, are the data controllers of any personal data you provide to us. For further information on our uses of your personal data, please see our Privacy Policy or the St. James’s Place Privacy Policy.
"*" indicates required fields
