Qubic Associates

We have provided a number of bespoke approaches that successfully mitigate the 4% SDLT charge that arises on the purchase of both commercial premises and residential properties.

Our current planning requires that the minimum purchase price for our planning to take place for a residential property is £500,000 and £1,000,000 for a commercial property.

Our fees for achieving this are generally between 1% and 2% of the purchase price. Elements of these are refundable on a 'no-win no-fee' basis.

We continue to provide various options for mitigating income tax. Typically, our clients are high net worth individuals who hold directorships as well as private companies who wish to remunerate themselves in a tax efficient manner without being subject to the standard levels of income tax due on bonuses or dividends.

Our planning often also encompasses:

• retirement planning for senior individuals who wish to transfer a family business to a son or daughter tax efficiently;
• asset stripping by an owner prior to a share sale, or
• more targetted tax efficient senior executive planning

We provide various tools through the employment of trust law and offshore taxation rules to ensure our clients are able to mitigate their Corporation tax exposure on both current year and retained profits and shelter any gains from tax in the UK.

We currently advise our client Companies on how to proactively manage their affairs without being subject to typical annual Corporation tax rates on their profits.

Often our approach to mitigating Corporation tax is implemented in parallel with minimising exposure to income tax on the individuals at the helm of these Companies.

Should you become embroiled in a contentious HMRC investigation, we can offer support and assistance. We can also help you to put tax compliant risk management systems in place to deal with future challenges in areas where HMRC continue to focus resources. Our main areas of expertise are:

• Managing HMRC Tax Investigations and delivering informal negotiated exit strategies covering HMRC Local Compliance general investigations as well as Large Business Service risk-based systems audits;
• HMRC "Deeming PAYE & NICs regulations" involving disputed Employment Status, together with "IR35", Managed Service Company issues;
• Addressing misfeasance, legal dividends, relevant earnings and HMRC PAYE transfer of debt directions to directors/controlling employees;
• Formal Appeals Tribunals;

Our in-depth knowledge of HMRC guidelines combined with profound technical knowledge provides a competitive edge. With considerable HMRC senior experience and Big 4 heritage, our Tax Disputes & Investigations Director, Chris Leslie, has an enviable track record of negotiating exit strategies. Chris has undertaken many assurance reviews, tax efficient planning and filing positions to extinguish challenges from HMRC, allowing you the comfort that the tax risk will be low should HMRC challenge any position adopted.

The proactive management of a person's estate is paramount to ensure any benefits derived from planning in those areas above are not then surrendered to IHT at a later date.

We provide a range of measures and tax planning that shelter assets such as the family home so they are not then vulnerable to IHT or costs associated with elderly care.

We also have access to a range of investment opportunities to high net worth and private individuals arising from bespoke tax planning that can generate significantly better gains that what are available via traditional routes. These encompass both onshore and offshore activities and perfectly complement the proactive planning which we generally carry out prior to investing any profits. We are able to advise on the tax implication of the planning but cannot give any specific investment advice.

A proportion of these planning opportunities arise from tax efficient offshore bonds which derive larger gains than what traditional investments are capable of delivering.

For further details on any of the planning listed above, please contact us and outline your particular enquiry. We will then endeavour to contact you as soon as possible.