Our Services

MacKenzie Higgs Limited can help you with a broad range of personal tax issues. With an increasingly complex and ever changing personal tax landscape, taxpayers want to know that they are ‘doing the right thing’ but that it is not costing them a disproportionate amount to do so. Here are the types of services that we offer:

Tax Returns

In recent years, the self- assessment system has become more complex and potentially more susceptible to penalties, fines or interest should any errors be made. In addition, with HMRC able to ‘name and shame’ non-compliant taxpayers, individuals are understandably very keen to ensure that they get it right first time and in time.

We can therefore help you with:

  • Completion and submission of self assessment tax returns for individuals, trusts or businesses,
  • Assistance in pulling together accounts for personally owned rental properties or self employment businesses,
  • Consideration of your payments on account position – is it too much or too little?, and
  • Bringing your tax affairs up to date and liaising with HMRC in relation to any outstanding liabilities.

    • Tax Structuring

    Often the term ‘tax structuring’ is associated with international corporate deals but it certainly has its place in the personal tax world. Effectively, tax structuring is optimizing the tax position when considering any business venture or investment.

    You may be about to start your own venture and want to understand upfront what the most tax efficient way to run your business might be – company, partnership or sole practitioner - or you may already be some years down the track and have heard that there might be a more tax efficient way of doing things.

    Or you might be about to make an investment, e.g. a property, and want to make sure that you are maximizing your post tax return. It’s important that the tax system works for you in the best way that it can. We can help you with all these things.

    Tax Planning

    Tax planning need not necessarily be something very complex and often the simplest things give the greatest wins and are sometimes missed. This is why we like to sit down with our clients regularly to review their and their family’s current tax position to spot these opportunities or at the very least to give our clients the peace of mind that they are already optimizing their tax position.

    Examples of how we might help are:

  • Computation of capital gains liabilities on sale of investment assets,
  • Consideration of any capital gains or income tax reliefs available or ways of optimizing the post tax return,
  • Estate and inheritance tax planning including will reviews and use of trusts, and
  • Succession planning for businesses looking to hand over to the next generation or businesses simply looking to wind up.

    • Offshore Issues

    There has been a lot of movement in the tax legislation for non UK domiciled individuals and the rules regarding when an individual is considered non UK resident or not. There can often be confusion as to how these rules affect taxpayers which can lead to some unsuspected tax situations.

    Therefore, we can help with:

  • Analysing a taxpayer’s domicile position and how this might impact on his/her income, capital gains and inheritance tax position.
  • Advice re arriving/leaving the UK temporarily or permanently, and
  • Advice on an individual’s UK residence position

    • Tax On Investments

    Taxpayers invest in a wide range of assets and the tax treatment can vary depending on what that underlying asset is.

    For example:

  • Pension tax advice - Over the last 7 years, since the so called ‘pension simplification’, there has been constant moving of goal posts. We can help with establishing whether you are able to make additional contributions or whether you need to apply for any pension protection based on the value of your fund.
  • Tax effect of different types of UK and non UK investments – not all investments are taxed as capital gains on disposal. Income tends to be taxed at a higher rate (40/45% v 28%) so this could produce some unexpected tax liabilities.
  • Options – many individual’s remuneration packages are made of several different elements including shares or options over shares. We can help advise on the income/capital gains tax implications of these.