Tax is an issue that touches every area of your financial life, whether on a personal or a business level and tax planning is of course a very specialist area of expertise. Tax planning services can identify and maximise any savings that could be open to you personally or to your business.

Here are our top five tax tips -

1. Optimising Entrepreneurs’ Relief

Forward planning can present a very interesting opportunity here for business owners to manage their tax liabilities on the sale of their business. It can be applicable whether you are a sole trader, partner or shareholder. There is provision for gains of up to £5m per person to be taxed at 10%, if all necessary conditions are satisfied. You really need to speak to a Tax Planning expert to understand whether this could apply to your business Like many aspects of tax, this simply isn’t an option that you should contemplate without appropriate advice.

2. Principal Private Residence Relief

This can apply to the sale of a second home, whether in the UK, or overseas; just like Entrepreneur’s Relief, it will need some expert advice in advance. Essentially there are circumstances in which Private Residence Relief can apply to your Capital Gains Tax liability. You will need to lodge the appropriate returns with HMRC in order to substantially reduce the tax bill that you would otherwise have to pay on the sale of your second home. Speak to your tax advisor to find out more.

3. Managing your liability for the 50% Tax Rate

The Chancellor recently announced that those who earn over £150,000 each year will need to pay tax at a new higher rate of 50%. In addition, there will also be 2% more National Insurance from next April. If this is likely to affect you, you may want to speak to your tax advisor in order to manage your effective rate of tax.

4. Managing your Inheritance Tax Liability

For those who have inherited larger estates, you may want to consider discussing methods to manage your liability with your tax consultant. This can be achieved in many cases whilst still providing you with access to funds, and at the same time, substantial savings can be created. Loans can be combined with tax effective investments, for example, meaning more of the inheritance can be passed down to the next generation.

5. Realising capital value from your business

Business owners often make careful plans to grow their business, and when it is successful there are still opportunities to reward the hard work that has been put in over the years. Speak to your tax advisor about ways to manage a management buy out by the team involved. With careful management, it can be possible for the owner to receive a larger capital sum which is taxed at just 10%. Additionally, it can be possible to retain a continuing minority stake in the business. Clearly, this is another strategy where you really will need to work with an expert tax advisor to determine whether you could take advantage of this route.