Bluebell
House Consultants LLP
The following is an up to date list of the tax
training topics currently offered to tax and accounting professionals, solicitors,
bankers financial advisers and any other interested parties. All course can be
tailored to suit your particular requirements. If the list does not cover a
particular topic in which you are interested please let us know as we will
always consider designing bespoke courses to suit the individual client.
Shorter versions of all these courses can also be
offered as in-house or public, client
marketing seminars. Administrative
details are summarised at the bottom of this page.
Practical Tax Planning Points Tax Aspects Of The Company
Car Farmers & Landowners
A Year-End Tax Update Tax For The Hotelier Capital Gains Tax - with planning points.
Tax planning for the new client. Tax incentives for investment? Inland Revenue Enquiries
Contentious Tax Issues The Taxation Of Doctors And
Dentists An Annual Tax Update
Corporation Tax Update Fiscal share valuations. A Framework For The Taxation
Of Disposals
Paye & Schedule E control visits. Marketing
The Tax Department
Taxation For Solicitors Tax Errors—The Accountants' Top Forty Maximising capital allowances
Tax Aspects Of The Leisure Industry Contentious Tax Areas Compliance Danger Zones
Tax Forms: Getting Them Right Optimising Capital Gains Tax Special Compliance Office Enquiries
Tax Planning for the Entrepreneur. Tax Planning For Owner Managed
And Family Businesses.
Wills And Inheritance Tax Planning Tax for the Company Secretary Trusts and Tax a basic
framework
Designing Tax Efficient Remuneration Packages Capital Taxes Planning For
Family Limited Companies
Offshore Tax Planning And Residence Revenue Interviews And Appeals
Practical Tax Planning Points
Objectives
To
outline 20 ideas for tax planning possibilities available to the business
client. This course attempts to cover some of the more adventurous tax planning
ideas currently in vogue as well as dealing with straightforward planning
options.
The
approach is checklist based with the emphasis on taking statutory provisions
and applying them to real life situations.
Contents.
The
course is divided into various different sections:
»
Income tax planning.
»
Capital gains planning.
»
Family company possibilities.
»
New business planning.
»
Planning business car purchases?
»
Inheritance tax planning.
Summary
This
lecture is deliberately controversial at times and contains some tax planning
ideas not for the faint-hearted as well as other more mainstream ideas.
The
overall intention is to stimulate thought and discussion and to consider just
where the boundaries of tax planning stand.
Top
Tax Aspects Of The Company Car
Objectives
To
summarise the current tax legislation on the provision of cars as benefits for
employees and to consider and analyse the alternatives available in the modern
tax climate. Methods of financing purchases and their tax advantages are
considered as are other topical issues concerned with cars.
Aimed
at
All
staff and partners who are involved in any way with clients' who purchase
vehicles either for their employees or for themselves for business or private
use.
Summary
of contents.
·
History of the
·
What is a car?
·
Capital allowances for employers &
employees.
·
Taxation benefits legislation.
·
Methods of car purchases.
·
Purchased by employer or employee?
·
Changes to the Mileage Allowance system.
·
Case law on car benefits etc.
·
Cars as golden handshakes?
Summary
The course
aims to provide a thorough review of all the main contemporary issues on cars
and car benefits. It concentrates on a tax planning approach and attempts to
suggest areas where there may be scope for minimising benefits charges and
maximising tax relief in certain circumstances. Considerable emphasis is placed
on worked examples of the computations needed to assist with decision-making in
various situations.
Duration:
half day.
Top
Tax Planning For Farmers & Landowners
Course
Objectives.
To provide
an update on recent developments in the world of farm taxation and to review the
chief areas to which tax practitioners and accountants should have regard when
dealing with the affairs of farming and landowning clients.
Current
taxation.
»
What is farming/husbandry?
»
Types of income; farm
diversification and tax.
»
Farming losses; contentious
disputes, eg. fish farms & smallholdings.
»
Farm accommodation adjustments,
Employee benefits and PAYE issues.
»
Farmers averaging:.
»
Farming partnerships: advantages and
disadvantages.
»
The Herd basis: summary and review
of special situations.
»
Capital Allowances, Agricultural
Buildings allowances.
»
Subsidies, Set-Aside & The
Single farm Payment Scheme.
»
Compensation Issues, grants and
similar receipts
»
Miscellaneous income, woodlands,
turf sales,
»
Grazing rents, holiday lettings and
similar receipts.
»
Share farming arrangements.
»
Tax aspects of Foot & Mouth and
Other Serious Diseases
Medium/longer
term tax issues.
»
Selling up or bringing in the next
generation?
»
Reliefs and exemptions:
Roll-Over-relief, Taper Relief.
¨
Agricultural and/or Business Property
Relief?
¨
Farmhouses, Farm Cottages
¨
Tenancy Issues
¨
Caravan Sites
¨
Quotas and capital taxation.
¨
Tax cases of relevance:
Partnerships, Wife’s wages, grants.
The
Potential for Revenue Enquiry
¨
Revenue techniques and selection
criteria.
¨
Attitudes to stock valuation errors.
¨
Stock valuations and BEN 19
problems.
¨
Own goods and private use
adjustments.
¨
Record keeping and stock
reconciliation’s.
Who should
attend.
Anyone
dealing with farming or landowners’ taxation
on a regular basis and especially those preparing farmers accounts and/or tax
returns.
Top
A Year-End Tax Update
Objectives:
A
year-end review of the chief developments in taxation and related topics over
the previous twelve months and an outline of practical applications and changes
in tax planning opportunities and problems.
PART
1. GENERAL
TAXATION UPDATE.
*
Recent IR Press releases of note.
*
Recent tax cases of note.
*
Current developments in taxation.
PART
2. YEAR END TAX PLANNING.
*
Income tax ideas.
*
Company and business tax.
*
Capital gains and Inheritance tax.
*
Checklists for client meetings.
PART
3. PRACTICAL TAX POINTS.
*
Tax saving ideas for small businesses?
*
Planning business disposals?
*
Tax planning in the current political climate?
Aimed
at:
Primarily
intended for tax partners and managers who are personally involved with clients
during face to face tax planning meetings at or close to year ends. The idea is
to equip these individuals with a broad framework to adapt to most clients'
circumstances.
Top
Tax Planning And Compliance For The Hotelier
Objectives
To
review the tax planning opportunities and compliance problems of particular
relevance to the Hotel and related tourist trades. The course attempts to
highlight the particular planning points of relevance to an industry which is
property based and very labour intensive.
Aimed
at:
This
lecture is aimed chiefly at tax staff and partners who have frequent dealings
with clients in this industry and will be of particular interest to those likely
to have to deal with Capital Gains tax planning and Income Tax and PAYE
compliance matters.
Contents.
The
course is divided into various sections:
»
Capital tax planning.
»
Early years income tax planning.
»
Capital investment & tax reliefs.
»
Tax treatment of lettings incomes.
»
PAYE compliance: casuals etc.
»
Planning for seasonal trades.
»
Review of specific tourism trades.
»
Tax cases on tourism.
»
Case studies.
Summary.
This is a wide ranging course covering all the issues likely to be of
general interest to the tax practitioner dealing with clients in the hotel and
tourism industries.
Top
Capital gains tax - with planning points.
This
course is intended to provide a comprehensive outline of the statutory
provisions for those who are new to Capital gains Tax as well as a review of
the chief planning points which arise when disposals are in prospect. The
course is aimed chiefly at sales of businesses and business assets and
concentrates on the computation of and planning for, capital gains tax
liabilities arising on such disposals. The programme should be of interest to
anyone dealing with capital disposals whether on the computational or planning
side.
Programme.
»
Basis of the charge and calculation
of the tax.
»
Chargeable occasions and persons.
»
Chargeable and exempt assets.
»
Basic reliefs and exemptions
»
Calculation of chargeable gains and
losses.
»
Rebasing to 1982: FA 1988 rules.
»
Structuring disposals.
- timing.
- pre-sale actions.
- using reliefs.
- alternative sale methods.
- reducing the tax rate.
- obtaining reliefs.
»
Planning where and when gains and
losses arise.
»
Taper Relief 1998 to the present
tday.
Maximising
the business relief.
»
Roll-over Relief
»
Taper Relief.
»
Enterprise Investment Scheme shares.
»
Incorporation Relief
»
Hold-Over-Relief.
Top
Tax planning for the new client, a
framework for analysis.
Objectives
This
course sets out to provide practitioners with a method of analysing and
planning the tax affairs of a new client, or a new business venture for an
existing client. The adviser is often well equipped to provide accounting and
financial services; this course aims to supply a framework within which the tax affairs of a new client or new
business venture can be objectively analysed from the outset.
Aimed
at.
The
course is primarily of interest to partners and staff who have first contact
with a new client especially those involved in the preparation of business
plans and raising finance.
Contents.
The
course covers a wide range of topics including:
·When does a trade start?
·Early years planning.
·Capital tax reliefs.
·Structure and asset ownership?
·Loss reliefs.
·Accounting dates.
·Incorporation?
·Tax and business planning.
·Buying a business.
·Tax relief for borrowings.
Summary
The
course's overall aim is to give the adviser and his staff a series of
checklists within which new businesses' and new clients' tax affairs can be
examined.
Top
Tax incentives for investment?
Objectives.
To
review the Revenue's current approach to
Capital
expenditures.
What
tax reliefs are available, where does the boundary between capital and revenue
expenditure lie today, and what is the latest available guidance on
interpretation of case law on Plant and Machinery and the other Capital
Allowances?
Course
contents.-
·
Capital v Revenue expenditure?
(FRS12 & Provisions)
·
Plant and Machinery or not?
·
Short life assets/long life assets?
·
Industrial Buildings allowances.
·
Interaction of capital allowances
and CGT?
·
Fixtures in buildings.
·
Computer software allowances.
·
Research and Development tax Credits
·
ECA allowances
·
Relief for Intellectual Property
since FA 2002
·
Benchmarking of claims.
·
Negotiating with the Revenue.
Summary.
This
lecture is generally case law based but is intended to show how precedents are
applied in practice and to highlight those areas to which careful attention at
the planning stage of any large capital expenditure project will pay dividends.
Aimed
at.
All
tax staff, managers and partners involved in claiming tax relief for capital
expenditures and advising on the availability of tax reliefs.
Top
Inland Revenue Enquiries
Objectives.
To outline the various
reasons why taxpayers accounts and returns are selected for Revenue Enquiry and
to provide guidelines on pitfalls to avoid and procedures for prevention.
Course
contents.
The course
is based around real life practical examples. It describes the progress of
actual cases and follows the history of several specific investigations from
start to finish, and identifies key stages and danger areas.
Part
1: Managing an Enquiry
·
Reasons for selection.
·
Know your inspectors.
·
Opening gambits.
·
Opportunities to forestall.
·
The appropriate responses?
·
Interview pointers.
·
Systems for prevention.
·
A practitioners checklist.
Part
2: Enquiries - the Statutory Framework
·Random Audit under Self-Assessment.
·Dealing with the current climate.
·Protecting the client.
·Using the Commissioners?
·The client’s statutory rights and obligations.
·Disclosure problems and
requirements.
·Record-keeping requirements.
·Risk Assessment Procedures
·Taxpayer Segmentation
Summary.
The course
offers an ex-inspector's overview of the enquiry regime for business
accounts. It concentrates on the
practical side of the topic rather than the academic and should appeal to all
involved in this often controversial subject.
Who
should attend.
The lecture
should be of interest to all involved in the preparation and submission of
business Tax Returns to the Revenue and to those who have to deal with the
Revenue's queries when they are received. Its emphasis is on prevention not
cure.
Top
Contentious Tax Issues
Objectives.
1. To
provide a summary of those areas of Cases I and
II which are traditionally the most common causes of dispute with the
Inland Revenue.
1. To
review case law precedents and the current law and practice on these areas and
to suggest practical negotiating points when such problems are experienced with
clients' affairs.
Course
contents.
·
The difference between capital and
revenue.
·
What is a "trading
transaction"?
·
What is plant and machinery?
·
What is an industrial building?
·
Which expenses are allowable against
profits?
·
When does a business start and
finish?
·
What is “succession”?
·
Financing business vehicles?
Summary.
The
course is essentially case law based but with the emphasis on applying
precedents to actual examples of problems which have arisen in practice.
Also
included will be some tax planning ideas currently being put forward, some of
which may be deliberately controversial and are intended to stimulate
discussion, including Tax avoidance possibilities.
Aimed
at.
The
course is intended to be of interest to tax staff and partners in general
practice, especially those who have to deal frequently with the Inspectors of
Taxes who examine clients'' accounts.
Duration;
half day.
Top
The Taxation Of Doctors And Dentists
Objectives.
To
outline the tax law and practices of particular relevance to these two
professions and to discuss the commercial and regulatory environment within
which doctors and dentists are obliged to operate and to consider its impact on
their tax status.
To
consider what tax planning strategies are of particular application to doctors
and dentists.
Course
contents.
Ø
Principles of partnership taxation.
Ø
Offices and employments?
Ø
Partnership agreements.
Ø
Allowable expenses.
Ø
Partners expenses and capital all'ces.
Ø
Rental income for premises.
Ø
Deduction of interest paid.
Ø
Capital accounts and interest.
Ø
Tax on partnership changes.
Ø
Employment of spouses?
Ø
Foreign appointments?
Ø
Superannuation schemes.
Ø
Allocations of profit shares?
Ø
Pensionable income?
Ø
Private incomes.
Ø
Aspects of tax enquiries?
Ø
Record keeping & computer systems.
Ø
Staff benefits & compliance problems.
Summary
The
course is intended to provide an overall review of the taxation aspects of
doctors and dentists together with some suggestions of tax planning points of
particular application to these professions.
Aimed
at.
Any
tax staff and partners who have a frequent involvement with the tax affairs of
medical practitioners
Top
The Annual Tax Update
Objectives.
This
course is aimed at general practitioners and their staff and is intended to
bring together all the main developments in personal and business taxation
occurring over the previous twelve months.
Contents.
Ø
Part 1: The Annual
Finance Act session.
Ø
Income tax changes.
Ø
Capital tax changes.
Ø
Business & Corporate tax
changes.
Ø
VAT changes.
Ø
Administrative changes.
Part
2: Developments in
Tax
Case Law.
Ø
Summaries of recent cases.
Ø
How decisions apply in practice.
Ø
Planning points & pitfalls.
Part
3: Recent Developments.
·
Inland Revenue Press releases.
·
Statements of practice.
·
Items in the news.
Summary
Many
people offer an Annual Finance Act lecture. Unfortunately these can often turn
out to be fairly sterile and rather academic affairs. Our approach is to provide
a quality set of guidance notes on the act and then to lecture on only those
points likely to have significant impact day to day. Other matters of topical
interest from taxation news are given equal weight where appropriate.
Top
Corporation Tax Update
Objectives.
To
provide a detailed review of recent developments in the world of Corporation
tax with the emphasis on matters of specific interst to owner-managed companies
and business dealt with by the small and medium sized accountancy practice.
Contents.
Ø
Recent statutory changes
Ø
Family company Tax planning –
current issues
Ø
Recent Tax Cases
Ø
Revenue Statements of Practice
Ø
Contentious issues
Ø
Settlement issues
Ø
IR35 Issues?
Summary
The
course gives an overview of current UK Corporation tax issue swith the emphasis on highlighting
planning opportunities for director/shareholders and their spouses.
Aimed
at:
This
course is aimed at all tax staff and managers dealing with the affairs of
family companies. it will also be of interest to anyone who has to advise on CT
planning at all levels.
Top
An introduction to the principles of
Fiscal Share Valuation.
Objectives.
To
introduce participants to the subject of share valuation and to outline the
major principles involved. To discuss the history of the subject and the
Revenue's approach to the topic.
Course contents.
Ø
What is "share Valuation"?
Ø
History of Shares Valuation
Division.
Ø
Valuation and local tax offices.
Ø
The SVD approach to negotiation.
Ø
Occasions for valuation.
Ø
Preparing a valuation.
Ø
Negotiating with SVD.
Ø
Methods of valuations.
Ø
What is "Open Market
Value"?
Ø
Review of relevant case law.
Ø
Some basic planning opportunities.
Summary
The
course is intended to provide a beginners guide to the subject and includes a
worked case study plus references to actual real life examples where
appropriate.
This
is not meant to be a highly technical lecture but rather to make tax staff
aware of the manner in which share valuations are carried out, how share
valuation can affect tax liabilities and how important it is to recognise
factors and transactions which may have an important bearing on share valuation
matters.
Aimed
at:-
The
course should appeal to anyone who deals with the tax affairs of family
companies on a day to day basis and should be of particular relevance to the
tax manager who is involved in medium term capital tax planning for such
companies and their shareholders.
Top
A
Framework For The Taxation Of Disposals
Objectives.
To review
the capital tax laws on disposals of business and personal assets within the
Course
contents:
·
Occasions of charge:
» Capital
gains tax.
» Inheritance
tax.
·
Methods of computation.
» Consideration.
» Deductions.
» Indexation.
·
The available reliefs:
» Roll-over-relief.
» Taper
Relief
» Hold-over
reliefs
» Reinvestment
relief under the E.I.S.
·
Planning for business assets:
» Ownership
structure.
» Property
development deals.
» Shares
or assets?
» Timing
of disposals?
» Use
of pension reliefs?
» Spreading
wealth within families?
·
Personal assets:
» Investment
assets eg land.
» Stocks
and shares.
» The
main residence?
» Foreign
property.
» Second
homes.
Summary:-
A varied and broadly based course which covers several
tax planning scenarios and looks at most of the major types of capital asset
which can cause capital tax problems for
clients in their lifetimes.
Top
PAYE Audit and Employer Compliance visits..
Objectives.
To
discuss and outline the reasons why PAYE investigations take place and to suggest
the appropriate methods of dealing with the PAYE audit visit and/or a district
Schedule E investigation.
Contents.
The
course includes several case studies from real life situations and reviews the
progress of actual PAYE audit visits and settlements.
Ø Historical
context on PAYE investigations.
Ø
Preparing for the audit visit.
Ø
Who are the investigators?
Ø
Content of the audit visit.
Ø
Schedule E principles reviewed.
Ø
Payments subject to PAYE?
Ø
Is there an employment?
Ø
Categorisation problems?
Ø
The "assessable amount"?
Ø
Case studies.
Ø
Tips and Troncs.
Ø
Casuals and PAYE.
Ø
PAYE: interest & penalties.
Ø
Problem industries and trades.
Summary.
The
course is intended to take a practical approach to the question of PAYE visits
and to outline the specific steps the advisor should take when preparing
himself and his client for the inspection of business records and district
Schedule E reviews.
Aimed
at:
The
course should be of interest to all tax staff partners and managers and indeed
anyone involved with the taxation of employees and directors benefits,
especially those who are involved with the preparation of PAYE returns and
P11D's.
Top
Introduction
to UK Group Relief .
Objectives.
To
provide a thorough grounding in the law and practice relevant to the taxation
of groups of companies within the
Course
content:
Ø
What is a group?
Ø
Outline of tax reliefs for groups.
Ø
Why are groups formed?
Ø
What is a consortium?
Ø
Group relief for trading losses.
Ø
Surrenders of ACT.
Ø
Group income elections.
Ø
Capital gains tax for groups.
Ø
Company trading losses post FA 1991.
Ø
Recent case law on group taxation.
Ø
The impact of CT self-assessment?
Ø
Anti-avoidance legislation and tax
planning?
Ø
When to form groups?
Aimed
at:
The
course will be of particular interest to tax managers and staff who are getting
to grips with the group tax system for the first time. PE2 students should find
it of particular relevance and the course content should also appeal to all tax
partners and staff who enjoy a back to basics worked example type of approach.
Summary:
This
is not a course for the expert but is intended to give a good practical and
technical foundation and refresher on the subject at a level which most general
practitioners should find relevant.
Duration:
half day.
Top
Managing And Marketing The Tax
Department
Objectives
To
help practitioners to get the most out of their tax resources both internally by
maximising their technical capabilities and externally by selling their
services to existing and new clients.
Outline
The
tax department is probably one of the most expensive human resource areas of
almost any accountancy or professional advisory practice yet it is often one of
the most undersold and therefore may fail to realise its full fee potential.
This
course is an attempt to highlight areas to which attention should be paid when
trying to get the most out of a tax department.
Contents:
Ø
What resources are needed?
Ø
What level of technical ability?
Ø
What to expect from ex-Revenue
staff?
Ø
Who should do what?
Ø
Methods of controlling work flow?
Ø
Post management in practice?
Ø
Planning the tax diary.
Ø
Critical times of the year?
Ø
Overlap with accounting functions?
Ø
What tax services are marketable?
Ø
What tax services do clients expect?
Ø
Tax educating the client base?
Summary:
This
course is not intended to lay down specific guidelines on how things should be
done but instead suggests a few ideas which have worked in practice for
different firms. It considers the critical tax functions within a firm with a
few ways of improving overall control of workflow and therefore achieving
better quality output from the tax department.
Top
Taxation
For Solicitors
Objectives
To
outline tax law and practice relevant to solicitors and other legal
professionals and to discuss the commercial and regulatory environment within
which they are obliged to operate.
to
consider what tax planning strategies are of particular application, and to
offer solicitors a framework for dealing with taxation and identifying where it
impacts on their own clients affairs.
PART
I: Taxation principles.
¯
Principles of partnership taxation.
¯
Partnership agreements.
¯
Partners' expense claims etc.
¯
Rental income and interest payments.
¯
Partnership changes.
¯
Tax and "salaried" partners.
PART
II: The commercial environment.
¯
The work of solicitors.
¯
How solicitors are organised
¯
The regulatory framework
PART
II: Taxation for solicitors' clients
¯
Property transactions
¯
Matrimonial disputes.
¯
Wills & Estates.
¯
Commercial disputes
¯
Partnership dissolutions.
¯
Employment law.
Summary:
The
course reviews the tax affairs of solicitors together with some suggestions of
tax planning points of particular relevance.
Aimed
at:
The
course should be of use to anyone dealing with the tax affairs of solicitors;
either as a solicitor themselves or as an adviser to a solicitor client.
Top
Tax
Errors—The Accountants' Top Forty
Objectives.
To
outline and discuss how and why errors arise in tax computations on submission to
the Revenue and to identify 40 specific examples of common errors and to suggest protective measures to avoid them.
Contents
Ø
Accounts submission errors
Ø
Tax return errors.
Ø
Capital Gains Tax errors.
Ø
Inheritance tax errors.
Ø
Errors in correspondence?
Ø
Errors over the phone?
Ø
Errors in interviews?
Summary:
The
course concentrates on the practical approach and uses real life examples
wherever possible to illustrate the mistakes which arise most frequently. Tax
departments can be one of the most profitable part of an accountants practice
but they can also expose him to the most risk of client disapproval when errors
occur. This course should help minimise those risks.
Aimed
at:
The
course should be of interest to all tax staff and managers (even partners) who
are involved on a day to day basis in the submission of information to tax
offices. Anyone who thinks they can never make a mistake should not attend!
Top
Maximising capital allowances:
This course will
provide an introduction to some of the more unusual areas of capital allowances
law and practice and will complement and extend Capital Allowances - The
Current regime. The course covers those areas not commonly encountered but
which[may cause difficulty because of their unusual nature. Delegates will be
given the opportunity to notify in advance areas of special interest.
Heavy
industries.
Ø Agricultural
Buildings
Ø Enterprise
Zones and
Ø Mineral
extraction & waste disposal.
Ø Dredging
and sea walls.
Modern
technologies.
Ø Patents
and Know-how.
Ø Scientific
research allowances.
Ø Computer
Software Allowances
Unusual
Businesses
Ø Cemeteries
and Crematoria.
Ø Sports
grounds and Stadia.
Ø Shipping
allowances and balancing charges.
Ø Allowances
for Rented Property.
Other Areas.
Ø Claims
by employees?
Ø Individual
Partners Capital Allowances claims.
Ø Interaction
of CGT and Capital Allowances
Ø Problem
areas and difficult situations
Top
Tax Aspects Of The Leisure Industry
Objectives
To
review the tax planning opportunities and compliance problems of particular
relevance to businesses operating in the leisure market. The course highlights
the particular planning points of relevance to an industry which is property
based, fast growing and very labour intensive.
Aimed at:
This
lecture is aimed chiefly at Accounting and tax staff and partners who have
frequent dealings with clients in this industry and will be of particular
interest to those likely to have to deal with Capital Gains tax planning and
Income Tax and PAYE compliance matters.
Contents.
Ø
Capital tax planning.
Ø
Early years income tax planning.
Ø
Capital investment & tax
reliefs.
Ø
Sports complexes, leisure and health
clubs.
Ø
Tax treatment of lettings incomes.
Ø
PAYE compliance: casuals etc.
Ø
Ø
Planning for seasonal trades.
Ø
Review of specific tourism trades.
Ø
Members sports clubs etc.
Ø
Tax cases on tourist business.
Ø
Case studies.
Summary.
This
is a wide ranging course covering issues of interest to the tax practitioner
dealing with clients in leisure and tourist industries such as hotels,
restaurants resort franchisees and similar activities.
Top
A Non-Specialist Guide To
Contentious Tax Areas
Objectives
To help the non-tax member of
staff identify and deal correctly with the most common tax problems likely to
arise on any client's accounts or tax returns during the audit and accounts
preparation process.
Outline:
Accounts
staff have extensive contact with the information which will form the basis of
the tax computations, and in many cases are responsible for preparing those
computations themselves. This course highlights those areas to which careful attention
should be paid when accounts are being prepared, discusses the commonest causes
of technical disputes with the Revenue, and gives hints on the presentation of information to the Inspector.
Contents
Ø What
is a tax computation?
Ø What happens to it in the tax office?
Ø What information do clients' records contain?
Ø What should the technician look for?
Ø The basics of the Schedule D1 computation.
Ø Capital Versus Revenue expenditure?
Ø Private and dual purpose expenses?
Ø Schedule D Versus Schedule E expenses?
Ø Provisions and reserves?
Ø Methods of stock valuations.
Ø Plant and machinery allowances?
Ø Industrial/Agricultural buildings allowances?
Ø The Self-Assessment new review procedures.
Summary:
This
course is not intended for the tax manager or
partner but will probably be of interest to many of their staff. It
should appeal to the tax or accounting technician or trainee and starts from
first principles. The emphasis is however very much on practical examples and
the course includes several real life
case studies.
Top
Compliance Danger Zones
Objectives
To provide
accounting and tax staff with guidance about the danger areas in tax compliance
work and to suggest ways in which preventative measures can be designed into
their working procedures.
Outline:
The course
is intended to show which areas of the small and medium sized business clients'
affairs are the commonest source of compliance failures and to suggest ways in which
these danger zones can be identified and avoided as an integral part of every
day working procedures.
Content:
Ø PAYE
compliance
Ø VAT
compliance
Ø NIC
compliance
Ø Accounts
investigations.
Ø Capital
taxes.
Ø Checklists
for prevention.
Ø Case
studies in failure.
Summary:
Nobody can
design a completely secure compliance prevention system and there is no
protection against the foolhardy client who thinks he can beat the system. This
course should however provide the technician and staff member with some
checklists to work to and also highlight some of the danger signs which can
often identify potential problems early on before it is to late.
Top
Tax Forms: Getting Them Right
Objectives
The junior members of staff
are often given the task of completing large number of tax forms in bulk. other
more detailed cases are given to more senior members of staff. Whoever
completes tax forms should find this course of interest. It aims to review all
the principle tax forms and discusses the particular problems they present.
Outline:
The course discusses the
occasions on which various tax forms have to be submitted, highlights the
problems and difficulties each form can cause, and discusses practical examples
in particular situations for each case.
Content:
Ø Straightforward
Tax returns?
Ø Corporation
Tax returns; CTSA?
Ø Forms
P11D
Ø PAYE
Year End returns.
Ø Notification
forms: 41G etc.
Ø Tax
Appeals and determinations?.
Ø Forms
CT61.
Ø Herd
basis elections?
Ø Non-residency
forms?
Ø Pension
relief forms.
Ø Forms
15 and 17: (Independent taxation).
Ø R185's.
Ø Continuation
elections and revocations.
Ø Rebasing
elections.
Summary:
The course is aimed at anyone
who has to fill in tax forms on a regular basis and will therefore probably be
of interest to all tax and accounts staff.
Top
A Non-Specialist Guide To
Contentious Tax Areas
Objectives
To help the non-tax member of
staff identify and deal correctly with the most common tax problems likely to
arise on any client's accounts or tax returns during the audit and accounts
preparation process.
Outline:
Accounts
staff have extensive contact with the information which will form the basis of
the tax computations, and in many cases are responsible for preparing those
computations themselves. This course highlights those areas to which careful
attention should be paid when accounts are being prepared, discusses the
commonest causes of technical disputes with the Revenue, and gives hints on
the presentation of information to the
Inspector.
Contents
Ø What
is a tax computation?
Ø What happens to it in the tax office?
Ø What information do clients' records contain?
Ø What should the technician look for?
Ø The basics of the Schedule D1 computation.
Ø Capital Versus Revenue expenditure?
Ø Private and dual purpose expenses?
Ø Schedule D Versus Schedule E expenses?
Ø Provisions and reserves?
Ø Methods of stock valuations.
Ø Plant and machinery allowances?
Ø Industrial/Agricultural buildings allowances?
Ø The Self-Assessment new review procedures.
Summary:
This
course is not intended for the tax manager or
partner but will probably be of interest to many of their staff. It should
appeal to the tax or accounting technician or trainee and starts from first
principles. The emphasis is however very much on practical examples and the
course includes several real life case
studies.
Top
Compliance Danger Zones
Objectives
To provide
accounting and tax staff with guidance about the danger areas in tax compliance
work and to suggest ways in which preventative measures can be designed into
their working procedures.
Outline:
The course
is intended to show which areas of the small and medium sized business clients'
affairs are the commonest source of compliance failures and to suggest ways in
which these danger zones can be identified and avoided as an integral part of
every day working procedures.
Content:
Ø PAYE
compliance
Ø VAT
compliance
Ø NIC
compliance
Ø Accounts
investigations.
Ø Capital
taxes.
Ø Checklists
for prevention.
Ø Case
studies in failure.
Summary:
Nobody can design
a completely secure compliance prevention system and there is no protection
against the foolhardy client who thinks he can beat the system. This course
should however provide the technician and staff member with some checklists to
work to and also highlight some of the danger signs which can often identify
potential problems early on before it is to late.
Top
Tax Forms: Getting Them Right
Objectives
The junior members of staff
are often given the task of completing large number of tax forms in bulk. other
more detailed cases are given to more senior members of staff. Whoever
completes tax forms should find this course of interest. It aims to review all
the principle tax forms and discusses the particular problems they present.
Outline:
The course discusses the
occasions on which various tax forms have to be submitted, highlights the
problems and difficulties each form can cause, and discusses practical examples
in particular situations for each case.
Content:
Ø Straightforward
Tax returns?
Ø Corporation
Tax returns; Pay & File?
Ø Forms
P11D
Ø PAYE
Year End returns.
Ø Notification
forms: 41G etc.
Ø Tax
Appeals and Postponement notices.
Ø Forms
CT61Z
Ø Herd
basis elections?
Ø Non-residency
forms?
Ø Pension
relief forms.
Ø Forms
15 and 17: (Independent taxation).
Ø R185's.
Ø Ill
health Retirement Relief forms?
Ø Continuation
elections and revocations.
Ø Rebasing
elections.
Summary:
The course is aimed at anyone
who has to fill in tax forms on a regular basis and will therefore probably be
of interest to all tax and accounts staff.
Duration:
2-3 hours as required.
Top
IR35: -
Dealing With The Issues For Clients
To
Provide Practitioners With:
A detailed review
of the legislation in Schedule 12 FA 2000 and
its implications for the client using a “personal service Company”.
A suggested
strategy for advising clients on minimising their exposure to the IR35 problem and hints on suitable contract
clauses.
A summary of
recent developments in the contracting tax field.
A review of
the case law precedents and an introduction to the advisable contract clauses to offer
protection from IR35 exposure.
The Course Will Cover
Ø Legislation
on “personal service companies”
Ø The
latest developments on IR35.
Ø The
Revenue’s approach to the problem.
Ø The
employed-self-employed review?
Ø Suitable
and non-suitable contract clauses.
Ø Particular
problem professions and industries.
Top
Optimising
Capital Gains Tax
Who Should Attend.
This course will be relevant to all tax managers and partners involved
with the strategic planning of their clients tax affairs, particularly those dealing
with the capital taxation aspects of owner managed business and family run
companies.
What you can gain.
Ø
A detailed understanding of the taper relief CGT regime.
Ø
Examples of how businesses can optimise CGT reliefs.
Ø
Knowledge of the interaction of Taper Relief and
other reliefs
Ø
Ways of advising clients about planning for the
future.
Course contents.
Ø
The CGT legislation reviewed in depth.
Ø
The availability of indexation allowance
Ø
The availability of
Taper Relief
Ø
The current forms of
Reinvestment Relief.
Ø
The changes to Venture Capital and Enterprise
Investment Relief.
Ø
Strategies to crystallise valuable CGT reliefs
Ø
Opportunities and threats of the current regime
Ø
The current rules for share disposals.
Top
Special Compliance Office
Objectives
To
outline in detail the roles of the various specialist investigative and
technical offices of the Inland Revenue, the reasons for their existence and
the sorts of cases they normally deal with.
Outline:
The
course discusses the roles of all the specialist offices, the sorts of
officials they employ, their backgrounds and training, likely expertise,
specialisations and experience and their general approach to casework .
Content:
Ø The
Revenue's Section 20 TMA 1970 powers.
Ø The
Board's Investigation Office
Ø Enquiry
Branch cases.
Ø Special
Office cases.
Ø Special
Investigations Section.
Ø The
Revenue Accountancy Unit.
Ø Shares
Valuation Division.
Ø The
Capital Taxes Office.
Ø The
District Valuer.
Ø Claims
Branch specialists.
Ø Technical
divisions.
Summary
The course
is aimed at anyone who may have to advise
clients on how to deal with "Hansard" interviews or interviews
under caution and what the likely progress of a serious tax investigation may
be. It also covers the non-investigative technical specialisms within the
Revenue.
Top
Tax planning for the Entrepreneur.
Objectives
A review of the principal tax
planning areas which are likely to be of particular application to the wealthier
business client particularly those looking towards a business disposal or
takeover at some stage.
Outline:
The course discusses the
place of all the major tax reliefs and exemptions in capital tax planning and
also reviews the various tax effective (or otherwise) types of investment
vehicle available currently.
Content:
Ø Independent
taxation and the family.
Ø The
strategic uses of trusts.
Ø A
tax effective Investment vehicle?
Ø The
chief capital gains tax charges and reliefs.
Ø The
chief Inheritance tax reliefs and charges.
Ø EIS/VCT
Deferral Reliefs.
Ø Tax
effective business structures.
Ø The
role of pensions in tax planning.
Ø Benefits
in kind for director shareholders.
Ø Optimising
Taper Relief and Hold-Over reliefs.
Summary:
The course is a thorough review of the tax
planning and mitigation opportunities
currently available to those clients who are traditionally perhaps at the more
adventurous end of the tax avoidance spectrum.
Top
Tax Planning For Owner Managed And Family Businesses.
Who Should Attend.
This course will be relevant to all tax managers and
partners involved with the strategic planning of business clients’ day to day
tax affairs. It will appeal particularly to those dealing with the annual tax
liabilities of growing family-run businesses and companies and especially those
who have to submit tax computations to the Inland Revenue.
What you can gain.
Ø A
framework for planning clients’ tax affairs.
Ø Ideas
for advising clients about tax mitigation.
Ø Strategies
for planning capital taxation for business clients.
Ø Ways
of planning family tax liabilities for the business client.
Course contents.
Ø Tax
planning strategies for the new business client.
-
Asset ownership issues
-
Fax and business financing issues
-
Efficient use of losses and capital
allowances.
Ø Tax
efficient extraction of value from the owner managed business
Ø Tax
efficient Incorporation’s.
Ø Succession
planning for the owner managed business
Ø Tax
efficient plans for the sale of the family business
Top
Wills And Inheritance Tax Planning
Objectives:
To identify the chief components of a tax effective
will, and to provide a framework for the strategic planning of a client’s
capital tax affairs.
Content:
Ø The
need for a will
Ø Intestacy
rules.
Ø Providing
for the spouse.
Ø Dealing
with the main residence
Ø First
death bequests.
Ø using
the lifetime thresholds.
Ø Maximising
Business Property Relief.
Ø Tax
effective property ownership.
Ø Survivorship
claims.
Ø Using
family trusts.
Ø Powers
of appointment.
Ø Revenue
attitudes to capital tax planning.
Ø Using
insurance products
Summary:
The course aims to take a practical approach to
minimising the clients overall exposure to capital taxation. It considers the current
law and practice on capital tax planning and attempts to suggest a framework
for advising clients.
Aimed at:
All staff and partners who are involved in the medium
and long term management of a clients capital taxes.
Top
Tax for the Company Secretary:
A Guide To The Essential Facts
Course
objective
To provide a
one stop seminar session for the company secretary as a means of highlighting
the significant tax issues a medium sized (large owner-managed and small
public) company can expect to face in a financial year.
Who should
Attend?
Company
secretaries working in the businesses mentioned above and who are involved in
giving advice and guidance on taxation or who come into contact with tax issues
and compliance problems during their working life.
Contents.
The
essential areas of Corporation tax:
Ø
Principles of corporation tax
Ø
Computing the liability
Ø
Planning for the liability
Ø
Recent developments and topical
issues
Ø
Problem areas and chief compliance
danger points.
Ø
Transactions which will involve CT
issues.
The
essential areas of Employee taxation.
Ø
The PAYE obligation and compliance
rules
Ø
Danger Areas on status and benefits.
Ø
Recent developments and topical tax
issues.
Ø
Current areas of controversy and
planning
Summary:
A practical course with a novel approach. The aim is
to present the subject as if the
Top
Trusts and taxation a basic frame
work.
Designed For:
All partners managers and tax staff who have involvement
with the planning, administration and compliance aspects of the taxation of
To Provide You With:
Ø An
understanding of the principle types of
trust and their uses.
Ø A
thorough grounding in the current law and practice on trust taxation.
Ø Detailed
knowledge of the main compliance issues for trusts.
Ø A
review of the planning points and pitfalls with trust taxation.
The Course Will Cover:
Ø What
sorts of trust are there?
Ø How
are trusts’ income and gains taxed?
Ø How
are beneficiaries taxed?
Ø Why
are trusts used in tax planning?
Ø What
planning options do trusts offer?
Ø Avoidance
provisions and recent developments.
Ø A
& M trusts & FA 2006 changes
Ø IHT
& FA 206 changes generally
Ø Offshore
trusts and
Top
Designing Tax Efficient Remuneration
Packages
Objectives
To provide
an update on current thinking on the world of remuneration planning and to
identify the opportunities for the reduction of PAYE/NIC liabilities together
with a review of current Revenue/NICO practice and the approach of the
authorities to tax planning in this increasingly sensitive area.
Course
outline.
Ø NIC
and PAYE planning
Ø Meeting
Employees Pecuniary Liabilities
Ø Joining
and leaving payments
Ø Employment
status - personal service companies?
Ø P11D
benefits checklists
Ø Staff
Incentives and share schemes after PRP
Ø PAYE
Settlement Agreements
Ø Company
cars - minimising the tax take?
Ø The
Schedule E compliance environment
Ø Exempt
Benefits
Ø Miscellaneous
points
Ø Working
overseas.
Who should
attend
Anyone involved with the affairs of schedule E
employees and particular the director/shareholder of owner managed businesses
Top
Capital Taxes Planning For Family
Limited Companies
Objectives
To provide delegates with a
detailed update on current legislation and practice on the capital taxes which
are of relevant to the family company shareholder director
What you will gain?
A thorough review of the current capital taxes
of relevance to the family company shareholder director and a summary of the
planning opportunities and pitfalls which can arise.
Contents
A General Strategy For Capital Tax Planning
The Preliminary Planning Review
The Current
Structure of Capital taxation.
Ø
Hold-Over-Relief for gifts of business assets.
Ø
Relief on The Incorporation of a Business.
Ø
Roll-Over-Relief
Ø
Company planning considerations
Ø
Shareholder planning considerations.
Ø
Selling out: Checklists for buyers and vendors.
Ø
What will a buyer want to achieve?
Ø
What will a seller want to achieve?
Ø
Closing down - the main options?
Ø
Disincorporation
Ø
A Company Purchase of Own Shares.
Ø
The
Ø
Passing ownership on?
Ø
Inheritance tax, (IHT).
Ø
Capital gains tax, (CGT).
Ø
The CGT and IHT reliefs
Ø
Means of passing on the family company?
Ø
Incorporation?
Ø
The Main Tax Considerations.
Ø
The Main Non-Tax Considerations
Ø
Reorganising Company Ownership
Ø
Why reorganise?
Ø
Tax issues:
Ø
Company Law considerations
Top
Offshore
Tax Planning And Residence
Objectives
To
provide a detailed introduction to the subject of offshore tax planning and to
review the important tax concepts which have a bearing on this topic.
Course
outline.
This
course reviews the main areas of residence, ordinary residence and domicile as
they affect liability to
Course
Contents
Ø
Definitions of residence ordinary
residence and domicile
Ø
Emigration and planning concepts.
Ø
Inheritance tax and capital gains
tax planning
Ø
Using tax havens
Ø
Self-assessment issues.
Ø
Documentation and evidence of
residence status
Ø
Relevant case law
Ø
Employment and self employment
abroad
Ø
Revenue guidance and practices
Ø
Company residence issues
Ø
E-commerce issues
Top
Revenue Interviews And Appeals
Objectives
To
provide tax practitioners and accountants with practical guidance on dealing
with meetings with the Revenue, advising and assisting clients throughout
meetings and also preparing for and dealing with appearances before the Tax
Commissioners on behalf of clients.
Course
outline.
A meeting with the Inspector of taxes, for whatever
reason, can be a stressful and sometimes traumatic experience for even the most
self-confident taxpayer. This course aims to provide the adviser with a
comprehensive set of guidelines and practical pointers on dealing with these
situations, helping clients to survive them and getting the best out such
meetings.
Self-assessment
is also gradually seeing an increase in the number of occasions on which practitioners
are taking recourse to the Tax Tribunal on behalf of their clients,
particularly in Enquiry situations and this course aims to cover the
legislation and practices relevant to dealing with these hearings to equip
practitioners to perform well at them.
Course contents
PART 1:
REVENUE
INTERVIEWS
Ø
Preparing the client
Ø
Objectives of the meeting & the legal background
Ø
Inspector’s powers
Ø
Interview techniques
Ø
Danger areas and pressure points
Ø
The role of the meeting in the
enquiry process
Ø
Stress reduction techniques.
Ø
Taking control and surviving the
ordeal
PART 2:
COMMISSIONERS
APPEALS
Ø
Legal background
Ø
Commissioners’ powers
Ø
Taxpayers’ rights and
responsibilities
Ø
What can be appealed
Ø
Order and procedures of hearings
Ø
Roles of the participants
Ø
Using the Clerk
Ø
Presenting evidence
Ø
Use of witnesses
Ø
General conduct and effectiveness
hints
Top
Administrative arrangements.
FEES:
A
fee will always be quoted on request. The current rate for a half day lecture,
(normally three complete lecturing hours) is £675 plus VAT. Fees can however be
negotiated on an individual basis for any occasion. If a full day's course
presentation is required the fee is normally £1100 plus VAT.
The
above fees include all preparation time but do not generally include travel and
accommodation expenses although fixed fees will be quoted if this is preferred.
Travel
expenses are normally charged in addition to the above fees at the rate of 40p
per mile plus the cost of overnight accommodation if this proves to be
necessary. Again expenses can be dealt with as part of an all inclusive fee
quote if this is preferred.
The
above rates will be held until 31 December 2007
Rates
for 2008 course will be held at 2007 rates until 30th June 2008.
COURSE
NOTES.
A
Master copy of all course material is provided usually two weeks in advance of
the date of the presentation as part of the fee quoted. For the annual Tax
Update and Finance Act lectures professionally printed and bound notes can be
provided if required at a price to be agreed in advance.
FOLLOW
UP.
Course
delegates are welcome to contact Russell for
taxation consultancy advice after a lecture has been presented. Where a
specific course has been developed for a particular organisation subsequent
follow up training sessions and workshop can also be arranged to suit your own
requirements.
Full
paper or disk copies of the slides which
Russell uses for most of his presentations can be made available on request
after a course for a small additional fee of £150 plus VAT.
If you have
any further queries or would like to hear more please telephone Russell on 01900-824542
(Tel) Fax to 0870-706-6376
E-Mail
russ@bluebellhouse.co.uk