WEST
MIDL
ANDS
CO
MP
AN
YG
UIDE11
Ma
na
gi
ng
ta
xt
o
be
co
me
res
ili
en
t
Sound
manageme
nt
of
ac
ompany8217
st
ax
affairs
is
good
practice,
whatever
the
economic
climate.
However
,i
ti
sw
hen
the
economi
cc
limate
becomes
less
settled
that
compan
ies
re
ally
see
the
benefits
of
car
eful
management
of
their
tax
affairs.
Nobody
likes
writing
large
or
unexpected
cheques
for
tax.
We
ll-manag
ed
compan
ies
have
pr
edictable
tax
charges,
giving
certainty
to
investo
rs
and
ar
ea
ble
to
minimi
se
their
cash
tax
payments.
Overa
ll,
thr
ough
such
good
corpor
ate
governa
nce,
they
pr
otect
their
wealth
and
that
of
their
investor
s.
This
might
sound
daunting
to
some
companie
sa
nd
tax
law
is
certa
inly
comple
x,
but
managing
ac
ompany8217
st
ax
affairs
actually
boils
down
to
a
few
basic
rules.
Rule
No
1
Have
ap
lan
for
managing
your
tax
Some
companies
will
have
ad
etailed
tax
strategy
that
sets
out
af
ramework
for
dealing
with
their
tax
affairs,
their
appr
oach
to
tax
risk
and
how
the
strategy
will
be
deliver
ed.
This
may
be
somewh
at
over
the
top
for
most
companies
but,
even
so,
they
need
to
plan
how
they
ar
eg
oing
to
deal
with
such
things
as
filing
tax
re
turns,
making
tax
payments
and
dealing
with
HMRC
and
other
tax
authority
audits.
Rule
No
2
Don8217
tf
orget
to
do
the
easy
stuf
f!
Companies
who
get
into
tr
ouble
with
the
tax
authorities
often
do
so
for
avoidable
re
asons,
such
as
not
filing
at
ax
re
turn,
filing
it
late
or
making
err
ors
in
re
turns.
Companies
have
systems
and
pr
ocesses
for
dealing
with
such
things
as
cr
edit
contr
ol,
financial
accounting
and
payr
oll,
so
having
systems
in
place
to
deal
with
tax
compliance
should
not
be
that
demanding
and
will
save
you
money
in
the
long
run.
Rule
No
3
Deal
with
all
taxes
Most
companies
pay
taxes.
Even
if
a
company
is
loss
making
and
pays
no
corporation
tax,
it
will
pr
obably
be
accounting
for
VA
Ta
nd,
assuming
it
has
employe
es,
be
dealing
with
PA
YE
and
National
Insurance
Contribut
ions.
Ther
ea
re
other
taxes
such
as
stamp
duty
land
tax
or
the
landfill
tax,
that
may
be
re
levant
to
some
compan
ies.
As
ar
esult,
all
companies
need
to
be
able
to
deal
with
all
re
levant
taxes.
It
is
importan
ti
nt
he
risk
manageme
nt
of
ac
ompany
that
the
right
people
ar
e
accountable
for
managing
appr
opriate
taxes.
Rule
No
4
Claim
your
entitlement
Many
companies
pay
too
much
tax
simply
because
they
fail
to
claim
all
of
the
tax
deductions
and
re
liefs
that
they
ar
ed
ue.
For
example
,i
sy
our
company
claiming
all
of
the
capital
allowances
to
which
it
is
entitled?
Could
your
company
claim
8220enhanced8221
deductions
(tax
re
lief
of
mor
et
han
100
per
cent
of
the
expendit
ur
e)
in
re
spect
of
re
sear
ch
and
devel
opment
activ
ity
or
expendi
tur
e
on
envir
onmental
ly-fri
endly
capita
l
items?
If
cash
is
tight,
it
is
even
mor
e
import
ant
that
the
post
tax
cost
of
an
asset
is
corr
ectly
calc
ulated.
Rule
No
5
Manage
tax
cash
64258ow
Companie
sn
eed
to
plan
their
cash
flow
to
take
into
account
payment
so
fV
AT,
PA
YE,
corpor
ation
tax
and
so
on.
It
is
import
ant,
however,
to
make
sur
et
hey
do
not
pay
too
much,
too
early
or
suffer
inter
est
or
penalti
es
for
paying
too
littl
e
or
too
late.
Ther
efor
e,
appr
opriate
contr
ols
and
pr
ocesses
need
to
be
put
in
place
to
ensur
et
hat
tax
liabil
ities
ar
ec
orr
ectly
calculated
thr
oughout
the
year
,n
o
tj
ust
at
the
year
end.
Rule
No
6
Think
about
the
tax
implicat
ions
of
the
one-of
fe
vents
Non-r
ecurring
and
less
commonplace
events
such
as
acquisitions
and
disposals
of
companies
and
assets
such
as
land
and
buildings
or
intellectual
pr
operty
,o
r
re
financing
businesses,
can
pr
esent
the
most
comple
xt
ax
issues.
However
,t
hey
also
pr
esent
the
gr
eatest
opportunit
ies
for
tax
planning.
Ther
em
ay
be
mor
et
han
one
way
of
structur
ing
at
ransactio
nt
om
eet
a
commer
cial
objective,
but
one
appro
ach
may
re
sult
in
less
tax
to
pay
now
,o
ri
n
the
futur
e,
than
the
other
.
It
is
important
to
talk
to
advisors
about
the
tax
aspects
of
such
one-off
events
8211s
ee
Rule
8b
elow
.
Thinkin
ga
bout
the
tax
implic
ations
at
the
last
minute
is
rar
ely
as
effec
tive
as
good
forward
planning.
Rule
No
7
Speak
to
HMRC
It
is
importa
nt
for
companie
st
oh
ave
re
gular
communication
and
ad
ialogue
with
the
tax
autho
rities.
HMRC
is
keen
to
facilitate
this
and
such
ad
ialogue
can
help
compan
ies
to
re
ach
agr
eement
of
their
tax
affairs
on
at
imely
and
cost-
efficient
basis
.
Rule
No
8
If
in
doubt,
speak
to
at
ax
specialist
Ta
xl
aw
and
compliance
becomes
ever
mor
ec
omplex
and
most
companies
lack
the
in-house
expertise
to
identify
and
deal
with
the
tax
aspects
of
their
businesses.
Having
an
external
tax
advisor
to
whom
you
can
speak
in
such
situations
can
help
avoid
tax
pr
oblems
and
further
costs
in
the
futur
e.
Resilient
businesses
focus
upon
many
basic
principles
to
ensur
et
her
ei
sn
o
value
or
wealth
leakage.
Ta
xi
sak
ey
aspect
of
this
and
one
which
needs
to
be
managed
effectively
.
To
ignor
eac
ompany8217
st
ax
affairs,
or
simply
af
ailur
et
or
eview
and
check
that
the
company
ethos
ar
ound
tax
is
right,
could
pr
ove
costly
.
Re
silient
businesses
ar
e
fo
cused
on
manag
ing
their
tax.
Simon
Jonsson,h
ead
of
tax
at
KP
MG
in
Bir
mingham,
looks
at
the
ke
y
issues
LEFT
:M
ost
companies
lack
the
in-house
exper
tise
to
identify
and
deal
with
the
tax
aspec
ts
of
their
businesses
8211h
av
i
ng
ex
te
rn
al
tax
advisor
to
whom
yo
uc
an
speak
in
such
situations
can
help
avo
id
tax
pr
oblems
and
fur
ther
costs
in
the
futur
e
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