Tax Planning

Most tax is decided before the year end, not after it. The timing of capital expenditure, how profits are extracted, when a disposal completes, whether a relief is claimed — by the time the return is being prepared, those decisions have already been made and the tax outcome with them. Planning means making them deliberately.

Our approach is straightforward: use the reliefs and allowances Parliament wrote into the legislation, apply them properly, and document the position so it stands up if HMRC ever asks. No schemes, no artificial structures — just decisions taken in the right order, at the right time, with the tax consequences understood in advance.

Planning for Companies

Corporation tax planning is mostly about timing and reliefs: capital allowances on plant, machinery and integral features claimed in the right period; research and development relief where the work genuinely qualifies; losses carried in the direction that saves most; and group structures that do not leak tax between entities. We review the position before the year end, while there is still time to act on what we find.

Profit Extraction for Owner-Managers

For owner-managed businesses, the biggest recurring tax decision is how to take money out: the balance between salary, dividends and pension contributions shifts with every Budget, and the optimal answer depends on your other income, your spouse's position and what the company can afford. We model the options each year and give you a clear recommendation rather than a menu.

Planning for Disposals and Exits

Selling a business, a property or a significant shareholding is where planning earns its keep, because the reliefs are generous but conditional — and the conditions usually have to be met well before the sale. Business Asset Disposal Relief, holdover and rollover claims, and the timing of completion against tax years can each change the outcome materially. Involve us before heads of terms, not after completion.

Coordinating Business and Personal Tax

Business decisions land on personal tax returns, and planning that looks only at the company misses half the picture. Because Acumon advises companies and their owners together, we plan across the boundary: dividend timing against personal allowances and thresholds, pension contributions against corporation tax relief, and family circumstances reflected in how income is structured. For planning centred on your personal affairs, see our private client tax service.

Planning That Survives Scrutiny

Many of our tax advisors previously worked for HMRC, and it shows in how we plan: every position we recommend is one we are prepared to defend, documented at the time with the reasoning attached. If HMRC opens an enquiry years later, the file already contains the answer. That is also why we do not sell packaged avoidance schemes — they fail, and their users pay twice.

What You Get With Acumon

• Pre-year-end reviews for companies, timed so recommendations can still be acted on
• Capital allowances, R&D relief and loss planning claimed properly and on time
• Annual profit extraction modelling: salary, dividends and pension contributions
• Disposal and exit planning, including Business Asset Disposal Relief conditions
• Remuneration and benefit structuring, including salary sacrifice
• Business and personal tax planned together, not in separate silos
• Every recommendation documented so the position stands up to HMRC scrutiny
• Fixed fees agreed in advance — planning advice with no meter running

Why Acumon for Tax Planning?

• Many of the firm's qualified tax advisors previously worked for HMRC
• In-house Chartered Tax Advisor (CTA), qualified by the Chartered Institute of Taxation
• All 90 of the firm's professionals are based in the UK
• Advises companies and their owners together, so planning covers both sides of the boundary

Get a Fixed-Fee Quote

Tell us what you need and we'll come back within one business day with a clear scope and a fixed price — no hourly-rate surprises. Call 020 8567 3451 or use the form and we'll be in touch.