Trying to get some tax advice

bill_face

Hello there, I'm attempting to spend less money on my accountancy bill, but still think I need a bit of tactical advice. I've been phoning around accountants in my area with no luck so far. I'm wondering if anyone here could point me in the direction of some paid advice, or perhaps explain things directly.

I'll outline my situation a little, but try to keep it a bit inpersonal.

I run a business in partnership with my wife. I'm in charge of the bookkeeping for this business and have reached a stage where I don't think I need an accountant to double check all my work. The accountant I have been using is unwilling to offer advice without doing the whole job. I have a sheet showing unused capital allowances, from when the accountant was doing the job. I don't fully understand how much there is left as the calculations don't have any explanations. So am unsure how to allocate these.

I am also a 'silent partner' in two other partnerships with my brothers, for which the same accountant does the tax returns. They usually get it all together very close to the January deadline. These have historically made a loss, and have large unused losses. This year they are forecast to make a profit.

An added complication is that we are currently eligible for child tax credits and if possible would like to keep them.

I would be looking for some advice on how best to allocate the historical losses to minimise tax liability.

I did this all myself last year, so have no problem submitting the applications myself, it's just the advice I'm after.

Thanks in advance

Pennywise

Smaller firms of "accountants" will usually want to do the "whole job".

What I think you need is a tax advisor - larger firms will have tax advisory departments, and you can also get independent tax consultants. The person/qualification you're looking for is a chartered tax advisor. Just be aware that as this is a more specialist qualification than normal accountants, their charges are usually higher and in your case moreso because they're having to spend time understanding the whole situation which your ex accountant already knows. So you may end up paying more for less and could well find that it would have been cheaper just to stick with your old accountant.

kidmugsy

bill_face wrote: »

I don't fully understand how much there is left as the calculations don't have any explanations. So am unsure how to allocate these.

Keep your accountant until he has explained. He'll charge for his time explaining, which is fair enough.

[Deleted User]

It could well be that the only remaining option is to carry forward any losses against future profits form the same business due to strict time constraints. It would appear that the business has continued for some time and claiming 'losses in the early years of trade' would appear not to available any longer in any case.

My main piece of advice is - don't mess with losses! As a former tax advisor who specialised in partnerships and losses for many years I am only two aware of the pitfalls in late, irreversible and incorrect claims.

tebthereb

If I have this right the OP has loss making partnerships that are now profitable. Presumably losses were utilised against earlier profits (or other income) wherever possible. Now they should normally just carry forward against next available profits of the same trade (i.e you stream each partnership’s losses, don’t blend them, or try to use losses of one against profits of another).

I would have thought many chartered tax advisors would be happy to have an initial chat with you on this and would only look to charge if there is some real complexity or time needed.

The capital allowance point confuses me a little. There could be many things going on here. If this relates to your active partnership as I assume, I would assume it is just showing the amounts as yet unrelieved for tax purposes in which case you would write the amount off at typically 18% in future.

I am surprised your accountant is unwilling to explain figures they have already spent time on calculating (and has presumably already charged you for).

[Deleted User]

tebthereb wrote: »

If I have this right the OP has loss making partnerships that are now profitable. Presumably losses were utilised against earlier profits (or other income) wherever possible. Now they should normally just carry forward against next available profits of the same trade (i.e you stream each partnership’s losses, don’t blend them, or try to use losses of one against profits of another).

I would have thought many chartered tax advisors would be happy to have an initial chat with you on this and would only look to charge if there is some real complexity or time needed.

The capital allowance point confuses me a little. There could be many things going on here. If this relates to your active partnership as I assume, I would assume it is just showing the amounts as yet unrelieved for tax purposes in which case you would write the amount off at typically 18% in future.

I am surprised your accountant is unwilling to explain figures they have already spent time on calculating (and has presumably already charged you for).

Two points: there is no such thing as partnership losses - each partner has an individual loss to allocate. Secondly the op seeks advice on historical losses and I doubt that there is now any option other than to carry forward at this point.