Author: Derval Rooney

Spring Budget 2024 – Key Issues

Posted on by Derval Rooney

Introduction

• The Chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, has just delivered the Government’s Spring Budget, which could well be the last fiscal statement before the next General Election (due to be held no later than January 2025).
• The Chancellor was able to point to a reduction in the rate of inflation since he came to office in late 2022 (from 11% to 4%, with a further expected fall to below 2% in the next few months). However, as growth levels remain relatively low, he was not expected to have a lot of room for manoeuvre in terms of spending commitments or tax cuts.
• As is now customary, there was a lot of speculation about the measures to be introduced, and so the headline measure – a 2% drop in the employee/self-employed NIC rate – was well trailed. As had also been discussed in the press, he announced the removal of ‘non-dom’ status, albeit to be replaced by a new regime for individuals coming to the UK.
• From the point of view of taxation, there were a number of other key measures of interest to businesses (and their owners and employees). Further details are set out below.

Income Tax/ NICs

• The main rate of employee’s and self-employed (Class 4) NIC will both reduce by a further 2% from 6 April 2024. As a result, from that date the main rate of employee’s NIC will be 8%, and the Class 4 rate will be 6%.
• On High Income Child Benefit Charge (HICBC), the Government announced it’s intention to move this to a ‘household’ based threshold with effect from April 2026. In the meantime, the starting threshold has been increased from £50,000 to £60,000, with a taper applying to the charge for individuals with income up to £80,000.
• A new ‘UK ISA’ will be introduced (following consultation), to allow investment in UK equities of up to £5,000. This will bring the total amount an individual can hold in an ISA from £20,000 to £25,000.

Full expensing and film tax credits

• Full expensing provides a 100% deduction for expenditure on new and unused assets that would otherwise qualify for the main pool capital allowances relief over a number of years, reducing a Company’s corporation tax bill in the year of the expenditure by up to 25% of the expenditure incurred. Special Rate Pool assets can qualify for a 50% First Year Allowance.
• Assets used for leasing (along with land & buildings and cars) are ineligible for the allowance. However, draft legislation will be published for technical consultation, in order to consider the potential extension of full expensing to include plant and machinery for leasing. This will be ‘subject to future decision’, meaning that any change would only be expected when the economic conditions allow.
• A new UK Independent Film Taxation Credit will allow eligible films (those with a production budget up to £15m and meet the requirements of a new British Film Institute test) to claim a 53% enhanced audio visual expenditure credit on qualifying expenditure. Designed to boost the production of UK independent films and support UK talent, productions will need a “theatrical release” in order to qualify

Property taxes

• The Furnished Holiday Letting Regime is to be abolished with effect from April2025. Landlords who previously benefited from tax advantages under this regime may see an increase in their tax liabilities (through losing eligibility for capital allowances and mortgage interest relief), as well as losing various capital gains tax(CGT) reliefs.
• The higher rate of CGT on residential properties will be reduced from 28% to 24%,with this change taking effect from 6 April 2024. The lower rate will remain at 18%for any gains that fall within an individual’s basic rate band.
• For SDLT, multiple dwellings relief (MDR, which can reduce the overall effective rate of SDLT where more than one dwelling is purchased) will be abolished for transactions with an effective date from 1 June 2024, with transitional rules for contracts exchanged on or before 6 March 2024.

Other matters

• The existing non-domicile rules will be abolished and replaced with a ‘simpler residence-based regime’. Under the new regime, individuals (who will opt in to it) will not pay UK tax on foreign income and gains for the first four years of UK tax residence. There will also be transitional arrangements for existing non-domiciled individuals claiming the remittance basis including a two year ‘Temporary Repatriation Facility’ to bring previously accrued foreign income and gains into the UK at a 12% rate of tax. The new regime will take effect from 6 April 2025.
• The VAT registration threshold will increase £85,000 to £90,000 (effective from 1 April 2024). This is the first increase since 2017. The deregistration threshold will also increase, from £83,000 to £88,000.

If you would like to discuss any of the matters arising from today’s Statement, please contact any member of the tax team.

Autumn Statement 2023

Posted on by Derval Rooney

The Chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, has just delivered the Government’s Autumn Statement which is likely to be the penultimate fiscal statement before the next General Election (with a Spring Budget expected in March 2024).

From an economic viewpoint, the headline was the reduction in inflation over the last year – from 11% to 4.6% (as measured by the CPI), thus allowing the Prime Minister to say that he has fulfilled the pledge to halve inflation this year. This, along with slightly improved debt forecasts since the Spring Budget, gave the Chancellor some headroom to cut taxes.

There had been much speculation in recent weeks about the nature of these cuts. In the end, neither income tax nor inheritance tax have been touched – although the reduction to national insurance contributions will have benefits for workers and the self-employed.

From a tax perspective, there were three main measures which are of interest to businesses and workers.

National insurance contributions (NICs)

The Chancellor announced a 2% cut to the employees class 1 National insurance contribution rate. Acknowledging that a combined rate of tax and national insurance for a basic rate taxpayer was “too high” at 32%, he has reduced the employee’s national insurance rate for that part of income falling between £12,570 and £50,270 from 12% to 10%. This will be effective from 6 January 2024, rather than the usual 6 April.

For those who are self-employed, the Government will abolish the compulsory flat rate weekly Class 2 national insurance contributions (currently £3.45 per week) and reduce the Class 4 contribution rate from 9% to 8% – both effective from 6 April 2024.

Full expensing

The Autumn Statement details the Government’s intention to give companies certainty to plan long-term investments, and to assist companies that want to decarbonise by investing in newer, greener plant and machinery. Full expensing, the previously temporary successor to the Super Deduction has now been made permanent, with the government estimating that this will unlock an additional £14 billion of investment over the next 5 years.

Full expensing provides a 100% deduction for expenditure on new and unused assets that would otherwise qualify for the main pool capital allowances relief over a number of years, reducing a Company’s corporation tax bill in the year of the expenditure by up to 25% of the expenditure incurred. Special Rate Pool assets can qualify for a 50% First Year Allowance. However, land and buildings, cars, and assets used for leasing are ineligible for the allowance.

Research & Development

Following consultation, the Chancellor has indicated that the new ‘merged’ R&D relief scheme will go ahead with effect for accounting periods beginning on or after 1 April 2024. Under the merged scheme, a tax credit (expected to be 20% of qualifying expenditure) will be paid to companies. This tax credit will itself be taxable, but the Chancellor indicated that, for loss making companies, the applicable rate of tax will be 19% rather than 25%.

The current SME scheme will continue to apply for loss-making R&D intensive SMEs from 1 April 2023, whereby a tax credit is available at 14.5% for losses surrendered, rather than 10%. In order to qualify for this scheme, the SMEs were required to incur at least 40% of total expenditure on R&D – for accounting periods beginning on or after 1 April 2024, this reduces to 30%.

Other matters

It’s worth noting that the Autumn Statement is not a Budget – that will happen next Spring. However, the Government will shortly be publishing the Finance Bill which will contain the above measures, and many others which have previously been announced. It’s in this document that we will see the substance of how these measures will operate in practice and, as usual, it’s always necessary to read the ‘fine print’.

If you would like to discuss any of the matters arising from today’s Statement, please contact any member of the tax team.

Thoughts in advance of the 2023 Autumn Statement

Posted on by Derval Rooney

For many years Autumn Statements did not create much interest outside of economic and political circles. They were more like midterm report cards that would signpost how things were going in the economy, with updates on public spending and borrowing. Since 2018 the plan was for the Budget to take place in the Autumn and then there would be an economic update in the spring to be called the Spring Statement. The theory was to avoid two fiscal events in the same year and to enable Parliament to have more time to debate and review draft fiscal legislation. However, since 2018, the reality has been much less clear cut with a plethora of ad hoc fiscal statements and indeed last year a budget statement reversal after the chaos caused by the Truss/Kwarteng budget statement in September 2022.

On 22nd November 2023 Jeremy Hunt will present his Autumn Statement to Parliament. He will no doubt be relieved that he has survived the recent cabinet reshuffle, but that relief will be significantly tempered by the thought of an election which must take place within the next 15 months. The current opinion polls, the state of the UK and global economies and the fact that the current Government has put in place fiscal measures that have led to the highest tax burden in the UK since the end of the Second World War will mean that any thoughts of job security may be temporary.

So, will the Chancellor make any surprise announcements at the Autumn Statement in a bid to both stimulate the economy and start to reverse the trends in the polls? The general thinking is that he has virtually no room to manoeuvre at the minute. Whilst tax receipts have been extremely buoyant in the last six months due partly to the better-than-expected economic growth but mainly to the impact of the increased tax burden, the impact of inflation on public sector costs and the huge increase in government borrowing interest costs (rising to over £100bn this year) will mean there is virtually nothing in the kitty for any big tax give-aways.

With that in mind, it is always worth looking at what might be included in the statement (or maybe even in the Spring Budget):

Corporation tax rates went from 19% to 25% from 1st April this year (despite the Truss/Kwarteng attempt to reverse this last year). The higher rates will no doubt impact on foreign direct investment, and it may be too early to tell whether the higher rate will result in a higher tax yield. Whilst the natural home for a Conservative Chancellor would be to lower corporation tax rates, one must remember that companies don’t vote and we are too far into the current election cycle for a cut in corporation tax rates to have any significant impact in time for the next election.

Inheritance Tax is regarded as the most hated tax in the UK — effectively paying tax on wealth that has already been subject to income tax and capital gains tax. There were some hints earlier this year that this tax may be subject to a root and branch review and that it would be adjusted so as to take most people out of the inheritance tax net, leaving only the wealthiest subject to it. However, inheritance tax is actually not paid by the majority of people and its dislike is more often about its perceived impact rather than its real impact. Whilst the cost of making some significant changes would not be enormous, it would be seen as handing a tax break to the wealthy at a time of austerity and thus it may not have the electoral impact that would make it worthwhile.

Stamp Duty Land Tax has been around for 20 years now and the rate has steadily increased over that time. There may be merit in a reduction in the rate at the bottom end of the property ladder to not only help stimulate the struggling housing sector but also to encourage younger people to get onto the property ladder. Having said that, with the base interest rates now north of 5% after a decade of interest rates closer to 1%, the reduction in SDLT rates may not give the necessary short term boost to first time buyers.

It is highly unlikely we will see any reduction to income tax rates or national insurance rates, the cost of such reductions would be just too great and any such rate cuts at this time could spark unwelcome movements in the UK government bond market similar to those seen last autumn.

Mr Hunt is between a ‘high tax rock’ and a ‘looming election hard place’. It is hard to see him having any wriggle room just now. However, the November Statement is not quite the last chance saloon, that will be the Budget Statement next spring. I suspect the Chancellor and his government will be keeping their fingers crossed that tax receipts will stay buoyant, global economic factors will enable inflation to fall back further and that interest rates will ease back below 5%. They say a week is a long time in politics but the question is will four months be long enough for the economy to provide a window of opportunity for the Chancellor? Watch this space.

We are hiring -Deal Advisory Assistant Manager

Posted on by Derval Rooney

Location

  • Belfast / Hybrid Working

The Role

  • Due to continued growth in our Deal Advisory team, we are now looking to recruit an Assistant Manager. The role offers a great opportunity for those seeking to make a their first move into corporate finance and to join a dynamic team in an environment which offers autonomy and agile working.
  • The successful candidate will be involved in the provision of deal advisory services to a wide range of corporate and private equity clients in NI, ROI and GB.  The firm offers a route to a more varied accounting niche in the following areas:
  • – Company Disposals/Acquisitions
  • – Fundraising
  • – Private Equity Transactions
  • – Financial Modelling
  • – Buy-side due diligence
  • – Sell-side due diligence
  • – Financial and commercial appraisal
  • – Business planning

You will be responsible for:

  • – Responsible for supporting the M&A Director and Manager to identify, value, manage, execute, and plan integration of the pipeline of M&A targets
  • – Research potential M&A targets including market and sectors, product offering, competitors, financials, industry news etc.
  • – Gather financial results and operational KPIs to compare M&A targets
  • – Build relationships with our local finance, commercial and operational teams to facilitate deal process
  • – Work with and support our financial and other advisors during the diligence process of deals
  • – Monitor any deal data rooms and share relevant information with the team
  • – Perform ad-hoc analysis to address specific deal questions or estimate synergies etc.
  • – Working closely with the M&A Manager, prepare first drafts of concise analysis, charts or presentations covering deal rationale, trading, market etc. and developing long-term sustainable client relationships
  • – Participation in broader business development activities, to include identifying and pursuing opportunities to grow the practice, in terms of both client portfolio and service offering.

What skills / qualifications will you need?

  • – ACA/ ACCA (or equivalent) qualified;
  • – Ability to work independently, but also collaboratively as part of a team;
  • – Strong project management skills and the ability to deliver to deadlines;
  • – Strong interpersonal skills and ability to manage client expectations;
  • – Highly competent technical accounting skills, coupled with strong commercial awareness;
  • – Confident with Microsoft Office applications, particularly Excel and PowerPoint.

What we offer

  • – The unique opportunity to work in an independent, locally managed, dynamic firm, with a focus on its people
  • – Competitive salary and performance related bonus
  • – Flexible hybrid working model

Interested?

  • We’d love to hear from you. If you would like to apply, please send a CV to careers@hnhgroup.co.uk with subject ‘Transaction Services’.  Please make sure your CV includes enough detail to show how you meet the criteria we’ve set out here.

HNH – A review on FY23 and a look forward to FY24

Posted on by Derval Rooney

As the nights get longer and we start to feel a bit of warmth in the air it is an apt time to reflect on the last financial year in HNH and look forward to the next.

The year ended March 2023 was one characterised by increasing economic and geopolitical headwinds, significant political change in GB and Scotland.

Across our service lines in FY23 (M&A, Transaction services, Taxation, FP&A, Restructuring, Forensics and Debt Advisory) we continue to focus, as we always have, on giving direct, honest advice to our clients with as much hands on support as we can bring to bear in whatever the project at hand is.  The advisory climate has become more challenging in the last 6 months but during this period we have enabled many of our clients to complete successful transactions, restructures and gather better information and clarity within their own businesses in order to help them plan strategically for the years ahead.   We are incredibly proud to be the adviser of choice to many NI and Scottish businesses, entrepreneurs and funders and we are delighted to be able to play our small role in their corporate journey.

Like many businesses we have been through our own changes.  At the start of the year Craig and Richard branched out and set up Raven Capital and at the end of the year James and his team moved on to KPMG. We wish each of them well and have no doubt their skills and experience will be well utilised in their new roles.

It would appear as we commence FY24 we have seen the worst of interest rate rises in the UK, inflation appears to be settling and the M&A environment is picking up after a slower calendar year Q1.  We are delighted to be starting the year with the appointment of new Company Shareholders and Directors – Rodney McCaughey, Derval Rooney, Neal Allen, Bruce Walker, Paul Gleghorne and Harry Linklater.  During the year we have welcomed 3 new starts, have seen 4 promotions and we hope to have 2-3 new starts over the next couple of months with further plans for growth across NI, Scotland and further afield.

FY24 undoubtedly will have some challenges but at HNH we remain firmly committed to investing in our client relationships, our team and our systems and processes to provide the best service we can in an environment that is enjoyable to work in. We are excited about the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead.

The Psychology of Debt: Post Pandemic Impact

Posted on by Derval Rooney

Written by Fiona Elwood

As we begin 2022, it is widely reported that rising living costs are having a financial, emotional and physical impact upon an ever-increasing percentage of the population. With National Insurance set to increase in March and the UK as a whole beginning to feel post pandemic inflationary pressures, one of the UK’s leading Debt Charities, StepChange, have confirmed that one in three people in the UK are struggling to keep up with bills (interestingly this is double the pre-pandemic number). Advice NI, another debt advice charity, has also recently issued a call to ‘encourage everyone to take a look at their finances now to help deal with what’s coming over the next year’. 

In my role as a debt advisory professional, we often meet with people struggling with their finances and in nearly every case the emotional (and physical) side effects of their financial difficulties are clear for us to see.

Whilst most households in Northern Ireland will have mortgages, car loans, personal loans, credit cards along with other essential monthly financial obligations such as childcare costs, It’s important to consider that debt impacts different people in different ways.  One person may suffer severe anxiety owing £1,000 on a credit card whilst another person may consider a credit card bill of ten times that, normal. Debt and financial pressures are not a new issue, but the effects of the pandemic have shone a light on the fact that any amount of debt can have a serious mental health impact. 

The commonly accepted emotional effects of debt include: Depression and Anxiety, Resentment, Denial, Stress, Anger, Frustration, Regret, Shame, Embarrassment and Fear. A recent study by Queen’s University Belfast on the Impact of debt and financial stress on health in Northern Irish households outlined that “neither the size of the debt, the type of debt nor the number of different lenders used affect health whereas the subjective experience of feeling financially stressed has a robust relationship with most aspects of health. In particular, financial stress negatively affects self-care problems, problems with performing usual activities, experiencing pain and feeling anxious or depressed”.

The key advice around resolving financial difficulties is to seek professional help.  When the financial problem is addressed and the appropriate solution is determined and implemented people will often describe more positive feelings such as relief, freedom and accomplishment. The age old saying of a problem shared is a problem halved has never been more true.

We often witness that when an individual begins a process such as bankruptcy or Individual Voluntary Arrangement to resolve the issue, there is a clear sense of relief experienced by the person and it is notably visible. Many of our clients describe the feeling of having a weight lifted from around their shoulders and many describe the day they accept the issue and seek help as being the first day of the rest of their lives. The role of a debt adviser is not the most glamorous of occupations but the ability to make a positive impact on someone’s mental health does make it all worthwhile.

Anyone affected by debt should seek professional advice and also avail of debt counselling to help deal with the mental health impact. StepChange, Advice NI or Christians Against Poverty are just a few of the amazing debt charities providing fantastic support in this area and their work (in an area that often remains unspoken about) should not go unnoticed.

https://www.stepchange.org/

https://capuk.org/

https://www.adviceni.net/

Business Advisory Services – “We Are Hiring”

Posted on by Derval Rooney

Due to ongoing growth in our Business Advisory Services Practice (“BAS”), we are now looking to recruit an Assistant Manager / Manager to join the firm. The successful candidate will report to the BAS Directors and will be involved in the provision of advisory and restructuring services to a wide range of stakeholders, including banks, funds, alternative lenders and corporates. The role will include the following:

  • Provision of professional advice and services to a wide ranging portfolio of clients, to include:
    • Turnaround options advice and business restructuring;
    • Debt and refinancing advice;
    • Accelerated M&A;
    • Independent Business Reviews;
    • Corporate simplification;
    • Corporate insolvency; and
    • Personal insolvency.
  • Business Development activities, to include identifying and pursuing opportunities to grow the practice, in terms of both client portfolio and service offering

Essential Criteria

  • CAI (or equivalent) qualified;
  • Ability to work independently, but also collaboratively as part of a team;
  • Ability to work efficiently and prioritise as needed;
  • Strong interpersonal skills and ability to manage client expectations;
  • Excellent technical skills, coupled with strong commercial awareness; and
  • Confident with Microsoft applications including Outlook, Word, Excel and PowerPoint.

This is a full time position and will be based in our Belfast office.

To apply for this position please submit a CV by email to careers@hnhgroup.co.uk by no later than 5pm on 14 January 2022.

Autumn Budget 2021

Posted on by Derval Rooney

Today’s Budget announcement covered a lot of ground and set out the Governments direction of economic travel for the next 3 years. However from a tax perspective, the Budget Speech did not contain much in the way of change. Indeed most of the main changes that will take effect over the next 18 months had already been previously announced, or to the annoyance of the Speaker of the House of Commons, already leaked/briefed to journalists.

There was no changes announced to income tax rates or allowances, which given that the personal allowance relief and tax bands are not going to increase, means an effective tax rise for all tax payers in these inflationary times. The increase of 1.25% in national insurance rates and dividend tax rates had already been announced and will take effect from next April. The corporation tax rate will remain at 19% until March 2023 and then, as previously announced, will rise to 25%. There were several technical announcements that will apply to banks, internet retail giants and REITS but these will have little impact on most corporates. However there was a welcome extension to the Annual Investment Allowance limit of £1m until 31 March 2023 to help companies investing in plant and machinery. There was also the announcement that very large residential house builders will have to pay an extra 4% tax on profits in excess of £25m, which is only going to apply to the largest of house builders.

Surprisingly the chancellor left capital gains tax and inheritance tax almost completely untouched with tax rates and existing reliefs remaining as they were before he stood up to speak. This means that Business Asset Disposal Relief will remain for the first £1m of capital gains on the sale of shares in trading companies, if the qualifying conditions are met, and also that inheritance tax business property relief will continue to apply at 100% on the transfer of unquoted shares in trading groups and companies. Indeed the feared removal of the capital gains uplift on death did not happen nor was there a reduction or removal of the capital gains annual exemption which remains at £12,300. Those who are expecting to realise a capital gain in the short term may be breathing a sigh of relief.

There was yet more legislation announced to clamp down on those who promote tax avoidance schemes and there will be a requirement for large businesses to notify HMRC if they take a tax position in their financial statements that is either uncertain or contrary to HMRC’s known interpretation. There will also be reform of the research and development tax credit regime for companies to include expenditure on data and cloud costs but on the other hand to focus (limit) the relief to expenditure incurred in the UK. There were no changes to the rates of VAT.

All in all from a tax perspective, this budget will not go down as a show stopper or even being that memorable. However, given that it did not introduce changes to the capital gains tax or inheritance tax regimes, business owners may be forgiven for being pleased with today’s announcements.

The Autumn Budget approaches!

Posted on by Derval Rooney

As 2021 enters the last quarter, it’s hard to tell whether we are leaving a period of uncertainty or entering into a new phase of the last turbulent 18 months. Whilst the coronavirus pandemic no longer seems quite so traumatic (despite still being with us), the business world is now having to deal with the ongoing consequences of Brexit, labour shortages, supply chain malfunctions and a looming energy crisis. To some of a certain vintage this may have echoes of the 1970’s – but without the flared trousers and glam rock.

It is good to know however that some things don’t change and one of these is the Governments need to raise cash. As a result the 2021 Autumn Budget – to be held on Wednesday 27th October – will be the latest attempt by the government to pluck the maximum amount of feathers with the least amount of hissing (to paraphrase Monsieur Jean Baptiste Colbert). Chancellor Rishi Sunak will rise to his feet and deliver his second budget of the year following his April Budget which was delayed from 2020.

We already know that corporation tax rates are going to rise to 25% in April 2023 and that there will be a 1.25% increase in national insurance ( which will eventually become the new Health Levy) and dividend rates from 6th April 2022 to help fund the NHS and the health care sector. However, what else might be in the forthcoming Budget? Here are some possible changes. However, please do note that this is in the realm of speculation as I don’t have a hot line to No 11 Downing Street.

1. Capital Gains tax is still low by comparison to income tax. The current main rate of 20% could be uplifted as it is less than half of the top rate of income tax. Having said that, unlike income, capital gains are comparatively easier to defer and a large increase in the rates could end up yielding less tax as more people would delay making disposals. However watch out for an announcement of increased rates next April to ‘encourage’ capital disposals in advance of that – it’s one way of raising more capital gains tax quickly as folk rush to avoid the increase.

2. Sticking with capital gains tax, the Business Asset disposal Relief, the new name for the former Entrepreneurs’ Relief could be on the chopping block. The relief is worth up to £100,000 to those making gains up to £1m on trading business assets or shares, by applying a 10% rate to such gains. Recent economic reports have called into question the benefit of this relief as it does not of itself appear to encourage re-investment of proceeds. However the Chancellor will be mindful of the potential political backlash of removing this relief as it will hit mainstream tory voters the hardest.

3. There has been little change to inheritance tax over the last few years. It is not a big earner for the Government and once again a Tory Chancellor will be reluctant to ‘stick it’ to his core voters. Mind you some tweaks might be made around the edges that could raise a few pounds without cutting to the bone. A likely contender is the relief known as ‘gifts out of surplus income’, which currently takes out of the inheritance tax net regular gifts made from the income a person generates that is in excess of their normal living expenses. Another outside bet could be a reduction on the rate of business property relief, which for many business assets amounts to 100% of the value of such assets. In other countries, this relief is capped, for example in Ireland the relief is limited to 90%. Such a change would mean a limited but not insignificant amount of tax would be payable on the transfer of business assets following death or a transfer to a trust.

4. There has been considerable talk about a wealth tax coming into play. Whilst there is some support for this type of tax, the practical realities of applying such a levy are very challenging and the view from many commentators is that it is unlikely to raise much, if any, money. Once again it is not something one would expect from a Conservative chancellor.

5. Other possible targets include: an increase in VAT – possible by taxing certain foods at standard rates or putting a higher rate on certain luxury goods; limiting the capital gains relief on the sale of people’s homes to a capped amount; new or increased environmental taxes (especially given the proximity of the COP26 summit in Glasgow); and possibly a removal of the national insurance age limit so that all workers will be liable to national insurance charges no matter what age they are.

As I noted above, the proceeding list is just my thoughts of what could happen and readers should not take any action based solely as a result of these suggestions. However if one was considering selling or gifting a business asset in the foreseeable future, it would be worth seeking professional advice before the 27th October as it may reduce the risk of unwelcome tax changes.

It was noted that when directly asked about further tax increase the Prime Minister avoided a direct answer and came out with the phrase the he was ‘zealously opposed to unnecessary tax increases’. Quite what will be deemed as necessary is something we will get a better idea of on Wednesday 27th October.

We Are Hiring – Tax

Posted on by Derval Rooney

Due to ongoing growth in our Tax Advisory Practice, we are now looking to appoint a Tax Manager. The successful candidate will deal directly with clients and also report to the Tax Directors and support them with the overall provision of tax services to our clients. The successful candidate will be involved in the provision of tax services to a wide range of clients, including HNWIs, OMBs, SMEs and larger corporates.

The role will include the following:

  • Provision of general tax advice to a wide ranging portfolio of clients, to include in particular advice on Corporation Tax, Capital Gains Tax, Inheritance Tax and Income Tax matters
  • Preparation of Tax Due Diligence reports and provision of advice in respect of M&A and funding matters
  • Ability to carry out detailed technical research
  • Business Development activities, to include identifying and pursuing opportunities to grow the practice, in terms of both client portfolio and service offering
  • Ability to deliver tax compliance services, including preparation of individual and partnership self-assessment tax returns and corporation tax returns

Essential Criteria

  • CAI (or equivalent) qualified
  • CTA qualified, with two years PQE
  • Experience of working in a similar role
  • Ability to work independently, but also collaboratively as part of a team
  • Ability to work efficiently and prioritise as needed
  • Strong interpersonal skills and ability to manage client expectations
  • Excellent technical skills, coupled with strong commercial awareness

Desirable Criteria

  • UK GAAP accounting experience
  • Experience of property tax-related matters, including VAT, SDLT and CIS matters
  • Experience in Trust Registration matters  

This is a full time position and will be based in our Belfast office. Remuneration will be in the region of £40-44k per annum plus benefits, depending on experience.

To apply for this position please submit a CV by email to careers@hnhgroup.co.uk by no later than 5pm on 29 October 2021.