Let our clients tell you about us
Testimonials
The greatest compliment we receive is a client recommendation. Below are just a few of the kind words our clients have shared about working with Shipleys Tax.
The value of a close relationship
“We value the close working relationship we have with Shabeer and the specialist teams at Shipleys Tax and have found them very knowledgeable, friendly and quick to respond to our queries. Shabeer has attended several of our practice meetings and his advice regarding partnership succession issues has been invaluable. I would highly recommend Shipleys to other GP practices.”
Dr Khan, GP Surgery — Yorkshire
Dubai expat return — saved from a £1.2m UK tax bill
“After selling my business in Dubai I was planning to return to the UK the following year. A friend suggested I speak to Shipleys Tax before booking flights and it turned out to be the best decision I made. Shabeer quickly identified that I was about to walk into the temporary non-residence rules and face a UK tax bill in excess of £1 million on gains I had assumed were safely outside the UK net. With their guidance we restructured the timing of my return and my affairs completely legitimately — the tax saving was life changing. I cannot thank them enough.”
Imran — UK Entrepreneur, returning from Dubai
Fixed fee promise and no surprise bills
“One of the most frequent issues we had with our previous accountants was not being made aware, in advance, of the fees to be charged. Shipleys Tax were a breath of fresh air, always completely transparent — and no charges for any phone calls or meetings.”
FM Medical Practice — Manchester
CGT planning for dental practice sale
“Selling the dental practice I had built over 25 years was always going to be emotional, but I wasn’t prepared for the tax complexity. Abdul and the team at Shipleys Tax walked me through every option, explained the capital gains tax implications in plain English, and structured the sale in a way that saved me a significant amount of tax. Their attention to detail and proactive planning made all the difference — I only wish I had spoken to them sooner.”
Kevin — Derby, Dental Practice Owner
Property portfolio incorporation
“After Section 24 mortgage interest changes my buy-to-let portfolio had become a nightmare. I was paying tax on income I was never actually seeing. Shipleys Tax took the time to properly assess whether incorporation made sense for my specific situation — no hard sell, just honest advice. They modelled out ten years of projections, handled the entire restructuring including the SDLT planning, and now my portfolio is fit for the future. Genuine property tax specialists, not just accountants who dabble.”
Rashid — Leeds, Property Investor
Partner-led client service promise
“Accountants seem to promise the earth but don’t deliver do they? Well we found the opposite. Abdul made himself available on so many occasions and even on weekends when we had a really major panic with a sale. Really grateful to him for his advice and foresight. If we needed to talk, they listen. It really is that simple.”
Sabina — JL Healthcare
Inheritance tax mitigation and estate planning
“After losing my husband I was concerned about the inheritance tax exposure on our family estate. Shabeer took the time to properly understand our family situation before recommending anything. The advice I received on IHT mitigation was clear, practical and completely tailored to us — not an off-the-shelf solution. My children and grandchildren are now in a much better position and I have genuine peace of mind. I cannot recommend Shipleys highly enough.”
Louise — Leeds
Family Investment Company succession planning
“My family business had reached a point where I wanted to start bringing my children into ownership without giving up control or triggering a huge tax bill. Shipleys Tax designed and implemented a Family Investment Company structure that achieved everything I needed — I retain voting control, future growth passes to the next generation, and the inheritance tax position is now properly protected. Shabeer took the time to understand our family dynamics as well as the numbers, which was invaluable.”
James — Sheffield, Family Business Owner
GP practice incorporation
“Our GP partnership had been considering incorporation for years but no one could give us a straight answer on whether it was right for us. Shipleys Tax produced a detailed review of our specific circumstances, modelled out the tax savings over five years, and handled the entire incorporation process end to end. The transition was seamless and the tax savings have already exceeded their projections. A genuinely specialist firm that understands GPs.”
Gill — Manchester, GP Practice
HMRC tax investigation defence
“When HMRC opened an enquiry into my company, my existing accountants were completely out of their depth. A colleague recommended Shipleys Tax and within a week they had taken over the correspondence, identified the technical issues HMRC had got wrong, and put together a robust response. The case was closed within months with a fraction of the adjustment HMRC originally proposed. Their calm, experienced handling of what was a genuinely stressful time made all the difference. Having ex-HMRC Inspectors on their team was clearly a huge advantage.”
Dr Ahmed — Manchester, Private Practice Consultant
VAT reclaim for locum doctor agency
“We had been charging VAT on locum doctor supplies for years, assuming HMRC’s position was settled. When Shipleys Tax flagged the Isle of Wight tribunal decision to us, they didn’t just send a generic update — they actually reviewed our contracts, ran the numbers on partial exemption, and built a properly evidenced reclaim. The recovery was substantial and the process was completely painless on our side. The fact they understand both the VAT technical side and the commercial reality of running an agency made all the difference.”
Medical Staffing Agency — Yorkshire
Employee Ownership Trust exit
“I had built my company over 20 years and wanted an exit that looked after my staff rather than selling to a trade buyer who would strip it down. Shipleys Tax walked me through the Employee Ownership Trust route in detail — the pros, the cons, and honestly the complications too. They didn’t just sell me a product. When we went ahead they handled the entire transaction, including the HMRC clearance, and the result was exactly what I had hoped for. The team continues to thrive and my legacy is intact.”
David — Leeds, Business Founder
Going above and beyond
“I came to Shipleys Tax through a personal recommendation, at the time I was in a transitional period. I had already taken some steps towards self-employment, however I had no idea what I was doing and the information I received from others was inaccurate for what I needed. I needed someone to understand and help me resolve all the mess I was creating.
Abdul stepped in just at the right time. He dealt with all the paperwork, as well as giving me valuable advice on how to save tax, which was brilliant. I felt I was looked after, my needs taken care of without me feeling like being a burden.
I would recommend Shipleys to anyone that wants an experienced professional team. They are always eager to help and support your company and offer advice when needed, but above all they are always willing to go over and beyond expectation every time.”
Bella
Latest news & blogs…
Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme – Further guidance on how to claim
HMRC has today (15 April) published updated guidance for employers on how to claim for wage costs the on the coronavirus (COVID-19) Job Retention Scheme. We will be assisting employers on how to claim and have summarised these below.
The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme is a temporary scheme open to all UK employers for at least three months starting from 1 March 2020. It is expected the scheme to be up and running by the end of April. It is designed to support employers whose operations have been severely affected by coronavirus (COVID-19).
Employers can use a portal to claim for 80% of furloughed employees’ (employees on a leave of absence – email us for our detailed guide on this) usual monthly wage costs, up to £2,500 a month, plus the associated Employer National Insurance contributions and minimum automatic enrolment employer pension contributions on that wage. Employers can use this scheme anytime during this period.
The scheme is open to all UK employers that had created and started a PAYE payroll scheme on 19 March 2020 (the initial cut-off was 28 February 2020).
The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme is a temporary scheme open to all UK employers for at least three months starting from 1 March 2020. It is designed to support employers whose operations have been severely affected by coronavirus (COVID-19).
Who can claim
Any UK organisation with employees can apply, including:
- businesses
- charities
- recruitment agencies (agency workers paid through PAYE)
- public authorities
You must have created and started a PAYE payroll scheme on or before 28 February 2020 and have a UK bank account.
Employees you can claim for
“Furloughed’ employees must have been on your PAYE payroll on 28 February 2020, and can be on any type of contract, including:
- full-time employees
- part-time employees
- employees on agency contracts
- employees on flexible or zero-hour contracts
The scheme also covers employees who were made redundant since 28 February 2020, if they are re-hired by their employer.
To be eligible for the subsidy, when on furlough, an employee can not undertake work for or on behalf of the organisation. This includes providing services or generating revenue. While on furlough, the employee’s wage will be subject to usual income tax and other deductions.
This scheme is only for employees on agency contracts who are not working.
If an employee is working, but on reduced hours, or for reduced pay, they will not be eligible for this scheme and you will have to continue paying the employee through your payroll and pay their salary subject to the terms of the employment contract you agreed.
To be eligible for the subsidy employers should write to their employee confirming that they have been furloughed and keep a record of this communication.
Employers should discuss with their staff and make any changes to the employment contract by agreement. When employers are making decisions in relation to the process, including deciding who to offer furlough to, equality and discrimination laws will apply in the usual way.
To be eligible for the subsidy employers should write to their employee confirming that they have been furloughed and keep a record of this communication.
Employees hired after 28 February 2020 cannot be furloughed or claimed for in accordance with this scheme.
You do not need to place all your employees on furlough. However, those employees who you do place on furlough cannot undertake work for you.
If your employee is on unpaid leave
Employees on unpaid leave cannot be furloughed, unless they were placed on unpaid leave after 28 February.
If your employee is on Statutory Sick Pay
Employees on sick leave or self-isolating should get Statutory Sick Pay, but can be furloughed after this.
Employees who are shielding in line with public health guidance can be placed on furlough.
If your employee has more than one job
If your employee has more than one employer they can be furloughed for each job. Each job is separate, and the cap applies to each employer individually.
If your employee does volunteer work or training
A furloughed employee can take part in volunteer work or training, as long as it does not provide services to or generate revenue for, or on behalf of your organisation.
However, if workers are required to for example, complete online training courses whilst they are furloughed, then they must be paid at least the NLW/NMW for the time spent training, even if this is more than the 80% of their wage that will be subsidised.
If your employee is on Maternity Leave, contractual adoption pay, paternity pay or shared parental pay
Individuals who are on or plan to take Maternity Leave must take at least 2 weeks off work (4 weeks if they work in a factory or workshop) immediately following the birth of their baby. This is a health and safety requirement. In practice, most women start their Maternity Leave before they give birth.
If your employee is eligible for Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP) or Maternity Allowance, the normal rules apply, and they are entitled to claim up to 39 weeks of statutory pay or allowance.
Employees who qualify for SMP, will still be eligible for 90% of their average weekly earnings in the first 6 weeks, followed by 33 weeks of pay paid at 90% of their average weekly earnings or the statutory flat rate (whichever is lower). The statutory flat rate is currently £148.68 a week, rising to £151.20 a week from April 2020.
If you offer enhanced (earnings related) contractual pay to women on Maternity Leave, this is included as wage costs that you can claim through the scheme.
The same principles apply where your employee qualifies for contractual adoption, paternity or shared parental pay.
Work out what you can claim
Employers need to make a claim for wage costs through this scheme.
You will receive a grant from HMRC to cover the lower of 80% of an employee’s regular wage or £2,500 per month, plus the associated Employer National Insurance contributions and minimum automatic enrolment employer pension contributions on that subsidised wage. Fees, commission and bonuses should not be included.
HMRC will issue further guidance on how employers should calculate their claims for Employer National Insurance Contributions and minimum automatic enrolment employer pension contributions, before the scheme becomes live. We will assisting our clients to make this calculation.
At a minimum, employers must pay their employee the lower of 80% of their regular wage or £2,500 per month. An employer can also choose to top up an employee’s salary beyond this but is not obliged to under this scheme.
HMRC will issue further guidance on how employers should calculate their claims for Employer National Insurance Contributions and minimum automatic enrolment employer pension contributions, before the scheme becomes live. We will assisting our clients to make this calculation.
Full time and part time employees
For full time and part time salaried employees, the employee’s actual salary before tax, as of 28 February should be used to calculate the 80%. Fees, commission and bonuses should not be included.
Employees whose pay varies
If the employee has been employed (or engaged by an employment business) for a full twelve months prior to the claim, you can claim for the higher of either:
- the same month’s earning from the previous year
- average monthly earnings from the 2019-20 tax year
If the employee has been employed for less than a year, you can claim for an average of their monthly earnings since they started work.
If the employee only started in February 2020, use a pro-rata for their earnings so far to claim.
Once you’ve worked out how much of an employee’s salary you can claim for, you must then work out the amount of Employer National Insurance Contributions and minimum automatic enrolment employer pension contributions you are entitled to claim.
You can claim a grant from HMRC to cover wages for a furloughed employee, equal to the lower of 80% of an employee’s regular salary or £2,500 per month, plus the associated Employer National Insurance contributions and minimum automatic enrolment employer pension contributions on paying those wages
Employer National Insurance and Pension Contributions
All employers remain liable for associated Employer National Insurance contributions and minimum automatic enrolment employer pension contributions on behalf of their furloughed employees.
You can claim a grant from HMRC to cover wages for a furloughed employee, equal to the lower of 80% of an employee’s regular salary or £2,500 per month, plus the associated Employer National Insurance contributions and minimum automatic enrolment employer pension contributions on paying those wages.
You can choose to provide top-up salary in addition to the grant. Employer National Insurance Contributions and automatic enrolment contribution on any additional top-up salary will not be funded through this scheme. Nor will any voluntary automatic enrolment contributions above the minimum mandatory employer contribution of 3% of income above the lower limit of qualifying earnings (which is £512 per month until 5th April and will be £520 per month from 6th April 2020 onwards).
National Living Wage/National Minimum Wage
Individuals are only entitled to the National Living Wage (NLW)/National Minimum Wage (NMW) for the hours they are working.
Therefore, furloughed workers, who are not working, must be paid the lower of 80% of their salary, or £2,500 even if, based on their usual working hours, this would be below NLW/NMW.
However, if workers are required to for example, complete online training courses whilst they are furloughed, then they must be paid at least the NLW/NMW for the time spent training, even if this is more than the 80% of their wage that will be subsidised.
What you’ll need to make a claim
Employers should discuss with their staff and make any changes to the employment contract by agreement. Employers may need to seek legal advice on the process. If sufficient numbers of staff are involved, it may be necessary to engage collective consultation processes to procure agreement to changes to terms of employment.
To claim, you will need:
- your ePAYE reference number
- the number of employees being furloughed
- the claim period (start and end date)
- amount claimed (per the minimum length of furloughing of 3 weeks)
- your bank account number and sort code
- your contact name
- your phone number
You will need to calculate the amount you are claiming. HMRC will retain the right to retrospectively audit all aspects of your claim. We will be assisting employers to calculate the claim.
Claim
You can only submit one claim at least every 3 weeks, which is the minimum length an employee can be furloughed for. Claims can be backdated until the 1 March if applicable.
What to do after you’ve claimed
Once HMRC have received your claim and you are eligible for the grant, they will pay it via BACS payment to a UK bank account.
You should make your claim in accordance with actual payroll amounts at the point at which you run your payroll or in advance of an imminent payroll.
You must pay the employee all the grant you receive for their gross pay, no fees can be charged from the money that is granted. You can choose to top up the employee’s salary, but you do not have to.
What happens when the government ends the scheme?
When the government ends the scheme, you must make a decision, depending on your circumstances, as to whether employees can return to their duties. If not, it may be necessary to consider termination of employment (redundancy).
Employees that have been furloughed
Employees that have been furloughed have the same rights as they did previously. That includes Statutory Sick Pay entitlement, maternity rights, other parental rights, rights against unfair dismissal and to redundancy payments.
Once the scheme has been closed by the government, HMRC will continue to process remaining claims before terminating the scheme.
Income tax and Employee National Insurance
Wages of furloughed employees will be subject to Income Tax and National Insurance as usual. Employees will also pay automatic enrolment contributions on qualifying earnings, unless they have chosen to opt-out or to cease saving into a workplace pension scheme.
Employers will be liable to pay Employer National Insurance contributions on wages paid, as well as automatic enrolment contributions on qualifying earnings unless an employee has opted out or has ceased saving into a workplace pension scheme.
Tax Treatment of the Coronavirus Job Retention Grant
Payments received by a business under the scheme are made to offset these deductible revenue costs. They must therefore be included as income in the business’s calculation of its taxable profits for Income Tax and Corporation Tax purposes, in accordance with normal principles.
Businesses can deduct employment costs as normal when calculating taxable profits for Income Tax and Corporation Tax purposes.
These are complicated issues at the best of times. We are on hand to assist employers to make the claim. Please call us on 0114 272 4984 or email info@shipleystax.com.
COVID-19: Self Employed to get £2,500 grant – but there’s a catch
At long last Chancellor Rishi Sunak unveiled measures for Self Employed earners affected by the coronavirus epidemic. As expected, this is broadly in line with the furlough scheme for those paid via PAYE.
The summary of the package is as follows:
- The new self-employment income support scheme will pay 80% of an individual’s average monthly profit over the last three years, up to a maximum of £2,500 a month. It will be open to all across the UK for a three month period, with an extension if necessary.
- Those who cannot produce three years of accounts will be able to submit either one or two years.
- It will only be on offer for those with “trading profits” of up to £50,000.
- Applicants for the scheme must have the majority of their income from self employment.
But the catch is the bail out makes it more likely that that national insurance contributions (NICs) will be aligned so that employees and the self-employed pay the same
- They must also have already submitted a tax return for 2019. Those who have not submitted a tax return will not be eligible.
- Late filers of the January tax return will have until 26 April 2020 in which to submit a return.
- Access to the scheme no later than the beginning of June, when the department will contact those eligible directly and ask them to fill in an online form. Payments will be made directly into their bank account, and will be back dated to 1 March, meaning a self employed taxpayer will receive three months’ money in one go.
The bail out now makes it more likely that national insurance contributions (NICs) will be aligned so that employees and the self-employed pay the same. We expect to hear more in the Autumn Budget no doubt.
If you need help with any of the above, please call us on 0114 272 4984 or email info@shipleystax.com.
How to reduce your Inheritance Tax
Given the extraordinary state of affairs with COVID-19, many are rightly concerned about inheritance tax and have little understanding of how it could apply to them. With that in mind, Shipleys Tax have a dedicated team provide inheritance tax planning ideas for family business situations and individuals.
Should you need to contact us urgently please email IHT@shipleystax.com and we will endeavour to revert to communications with 48 hours of receipt, we are here to help, guide and assist in these unprecedented times.
What is Inheritance Tax?
Inheritance Tax (IHT) is a tax on the estate of someone who has died, including all property, possessions and money.
How much is Inheritance Tax?
If the value of your estate is above the Nill Rate Band (NRB) of £325,000, then the part of your estate above the threshold might be liable for tax at the rate of 40%.
Inheritance Tax (IHT) is a tax on the estate of someone who has died, including all property, possessions and money.
So, if your estate is worth £525,000 and your IHT threshold is £325,000, the tax charged will be on £200,000 (£525,000 – £325,000). The tax would be £80,000 (40% of £200,000).
The NRB is fixed at £325,000 until 2021, but your NRB might be increased if you’re widowed or a surviving civil partner. Couples can transfer any unused NRB when the first person died to the survivor.
The Residence Nil Rate Band (RNRB) – (also known as the home allowance) has been introduced recently.
The RNRB is on top of the NRB and the TNRB. To be eligible you must pass your home or a share of it to your children or grandchildren. This includes step-children, adopted children, foster children but not nieces, nephews or siblings.
Who pays Inheritance Tax?
If there is a will, it’s usually the executor of the will who arranges to pay the Inheritance Tax (IHT).If there isn’t a will, it’s the administrator of the estate who does this.
IHT can be paid from funds within the estate, or from money raised from the sale of the assets.
IHT is somewhat mischievously known as the “optional tax”. This is due to the fact that there are many reliefs and tax planning opportunities to mitigate the 40% tax on estate.
However, in practice, most IHT is paid through the Direct Payment Scheme (DPS). This means, if the person who died had money in a bank or building society account, the person dealing with the estate can ask for all or some of the IHT due to be paid directly from the account through the DPS.
Inheritance Tax Planning
IHT is somewhat mischievously known as the “optional tax”. This is due to the fact that there are many reliefs and tax planning opportunities to mitigate the 40% tax on estate.
We have a team of IHT specialists who can help minimise your IHT exposure. Call us on 0114 272 4984 or email IHT@shipleystax.com.
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