Capital allowances case study
Capital allowances can be claimed by businesses and companies as a way of reducing their taxable profits.
Most businesses will buy assets for use in their business. Most of these assets lose value as they are used and as such from an accounting perspective these are “depreciated”.
The depreciation charge is an expense in the business’ profit and loss account. However, businesses cannot claim tax relief for the depreciation of the assets they use in the business because these are capital in nature.
This issue is overcome by the use of capital allowances which allows for a prescribed amount to be deducted against their annual taxable profits.
Our team can put your mind at ease through assisting you with the following areas:
- Preparing and reviewing your capital allowances computations
- Ensuring that capital allowances are claimed in the most efficient way
- Optimisation of the Annual Investment Allowance
- Highlighting elections and ways of optimising capital allowances claims

How we can help
Our dedicated team work alongside our clients and their accounts staff to understand what has been purchased and what the business purpose of the expenditure is.
So why not see if our team can help you with:
- Maintaining your asset pools
- Utilising the Annual Investment Allowance
- Identifying assets qualifying for enhanced deductions
- Additional considerations for R&D qualifying assets
- The new super deduction
- Group considerations
- Split periods
- HMRC investigations
Why not speak to one of the team to see whether you have maximised your capital allowances claim as we can even re-submit a prior year return, which in some circumstances can generate a repayment.
The benefits of outsourcing your Capital Allowances computations
Our tax team have extensive experience and expertise in preparing and reviewing capital allowance claims for a number of clients. Why not ask them to do the same for you, this will free up your time to focus on developing your business.
The team can help you in a number of ways, including ensuring that claims are made in the most tax efficient way for your business.
How we have helped our clients
An audit client had completed an extensive redevelopment of a new site, re-furbishing a warehouse and buying new equipment totalling more than £700,000. Through our expertise and working with our client’s accounts team we were able to claim capital allowances on 87% of total expenditure.
Get in touch if you would like to book an introductory meeting, or have any questions on our Restructuring and Re-organisation tax service. Meetings and consultations can be held virtually.
Corporation tax case study
Corporation tax is payable by companies on their profits, investment gains and chargeable gains.
Seymour Taylor can assist you with advisory and compliance matters.
We have a dedicated team of Corporation tax specialists who work with you and our accounts preparation team. We know that having a team of experienced and knowledgeable advisors is key to maximising tax planning opportunities as well as providing support and guidance.
Our team can put your mind at ease by assisting you on the following areas;
- Preparing, reviewing and submitting your Corporation Tax return
- Electronic “iXBRL” tagging of accounts
- Highlighting tax planning opportunities, allowances, elections and reliefs
- Proactively helping our clients plan for the year ahead and when new legislation is announced whilst providing support as and when your business requires it.
- Liaising with HMRC on your behalf
- Support with what is tax-allowable and what isn’t

The benefits of outsourcing your Corporation Tax services
Outsourcing your Corporation Tax needs to us will take the burden of the task off of your shoulders. This will free up your time to focus on progressing your business.
Outsourcing these services can also ensure that you have access to a team with extensive knowledge and experience in Corporation Tax, as well as having the latest accounting technology to be able to provide you with the best service. This will also save you money, as you won’t have the need to hire a specialist to complete this for you in house.
How we work with clients – Client A
One of our audit clients had completed a large redevelopment of one of their buildings totalling more than £700K, using our expertise we were able to claim capital allowances on 87% of project costs working with the client and accounts team.
How we can help
Our dedicated team use their knowledge and expertise to prepare your Corporation Tax calculation based on your accounting records so if we already prepare your accounts why not let us manage this area for you as well.
We strive to meet the expectations of our clients whilst helping to ensure that your business pays the right amount of tax but also on time. Our friendly team of experts can also assist with more specialist areas including:
- Forward planning to help you to maximise your capital allowance claims
- Tax compliance for groups and consortia and tax planning opportunities
- Group re-organisations
- Subsidiaries and overseas companies with a permanent establishment in the UK
- Controlled foreign companies (CFCs)
- Research and Development claims under the SME and RDEC regimes
- Loans to participators
- Quarterly corporation tax
Get in touch if you would like a FREE no obligation consultation, meeting or have any questions on our Corporation Tax service. Meetings and consultations can be held virtually.
Restructuring and re-organisations case study
As businesses develop and progress through the business lifecycle the people within the organisation will inevitably change and the purpose of the business may alter.
For example, you may want to consider the exit strategies available, transferring assets from one company to another, capitalising loans provided to fellow group companies or demerging a company between two parties who have fallen out.
Do any of the below apply to you?
- Are you concerned that your group structure no longer supports the way your business is managed but are not sure about the most efficient way of restructuring?
- Would you like to implement a restructuring plan but are worried about the accounting implications?
- Do you lack confidence in the distributable reserves positions of the entities within your group and the lawfulness of proposed transactions?
- Do you spend considerable time each month reconciling intercompany balances and considering the recoverability of those accounts?

Our team of experts can take the stress away and advise on various options including:
- Group re-organisations
- Mergers and demergers
- Purchase of own shares
- Capital reductions
- Management buy-outs
- Transfers of trades and/or assets
Company re-organisations can have complicated tax issues, which can sometimes make them feel unnecessarily difficult. Our expert team can help you consider the best way to do this and to come up with an effective plan for your business looking at the commercial advantages or re-organising business activities or shareholdings and how this can be done on a tax free or low tax way.
Example
A client came to us who had a large historical intercompany loan account to find out what options they had to restructure this debt into equity. We worked with the client in the UK and overseas to work out exactly what their requirements were and we were able to restructure debt on the balance sheet to reduce liabilities by more than £600k and to increase equity. This resulted in the balance sheet position of the company improving considerably and more reflective of the current business.
Get in touch if you would like a FREE no obligation consultation, meeting or have any questions on our Restructuring and Re-organisation tax service. Meetings and consultations can be held virtually.
Outsourcing your payroll case study
Businesses of all sizes outsource their payroll function
In a smaller business the payroll is often processed by a Director or business owner, which is not always an efficient use of their time! Doing the payroll for a business can be time consuming and you need to be aware of all the current legislation and regulations surrounding employment, pensions and taxes. These change every year, and whilst there are many software packages that offer to help the payroll processor, it makes more sense to hand the whole thing over to a specialist, for a very modest fee, so that they can focus on running the business.
As business size increases, it is likely that the payroll will become more complex. The more employees there are, the higher the likely incidence of statutory absences such as Maternity, Adoption or Sick Leave, and Shared Parental Leave. Not to mention Pension Duties in the form of Automatic Enrolment, the potential for part time and zero-hour employees, and Attachment of Earnings orders, Student and Post-Graduate Loan deductions, Child Maintenance, and so on.
Outsourcing the payroll can help maintain confidentiality as the payroll is processed offsite. Additionally the employer won’t need to be concerned about holiday or sickness absence affecting payroll processing.
Larger businesses will often maintain their own HR department, but it can still make sense for them to outsource the payroll function. Why employ and train an in-house payroll operative or department when you can outsource the service for a fraction of the cost?
The payroll provider may also be able to offer facilities such as BACS payments, electronic payslips and P60s, and perhaps additional services such as payrolling of Benefits In Kind and preparation of P11Ds.
Where an employer needs to take on staff in other countries, additional complications can arise due to the many different regulations that exist overseas.
At Seymour Taylor we are part of MGI Worldwide, a global accounting network, so any international queries or payroll questions can be easily handled with our connections across the world.

Our Payroll Service
Starting from £50 + VAT per payroll run, we are able to offer weekly, fortnightly, monthly or quarterly payroll processing.
These include:
- Clear, easy-to-understand electronic payslips for the staff
- A wide range of payroll reports and departmental analysis
- Assistance with auto enrolment compliance
- Calculation of Student and Post-Graduate Loan deductions
- Dealing with CSA and other Deductions from Earnings orders
- Preparation and submission of all required returns to HM Revenue and Customs
- Electronic End of Year P60 certificates
- Preparation of P45s for leavers, delivered electronically
Other services available include BACS payments of salaries and HMRC liability, bespoke reports and P11D Returns of expenses and benefits; payrolling of Benefits In Kind.
The employer should be aware that even if they are outsourcing their payroll it is, nevertheless, always their responsibility to ensure that they are complying with the various laws and regulations including, but not limited to, National Minimum Wage/National Living Wage, confirming that their employee has the right to work in the UK, Pension Duties, and paying PAYE and NI liabilities on time. These responsibilities cannot be delegated to others.
Specific examples of how we have assisted clients with their payroll requirements:
Company 1 had about 75 staff, processing their payroll internally, relying on 1 individual for this and HR services. As this person was planning to emigrate, and the company was expanding, they decided that outsourcing the payroll to Seymour Taylor was commercially advantageous, while expanding the HR department. Several years on and the company now employs over 130 staff, with an HR department of 4, but continue to outsource their payroll, BACS and P11Ds to Seymour Taylor.
Company 2 is a smaller organisation. Employing around 7 staff, there is no payroll expertise in house and Seymour Taylor provide a complete solution to process their payroll, initiate BACS payments to the staff and to HMRC, assist with their auto enrolment and provide electronic payslips, P60s etc..
Get in touch if you would like a FREE no obligation consultation, meeting or have any questions on our Payroll services. Meetings and consultations can be held virtually.
Outsourced accounting services case study
At Seymour Taylor our Outsourced Accounting Services team support our clients in delivering any element of their accounting function in a way that suits them. We use a combination of on site and office based working to deliver whatever is required, on a time frame that suits them.
How we work with Outsourced Accounting Services Clients.
In June 2019 Seymour Taylor began working with Mintec a business, which is the world’s leading independent provider of global food pricing data and analysis. Mintec made a number of changes in 2019 to their finance function. As a business they were looking at ways to automate processes they were doing and streamlining aspects of their finance function so that they could spend time making decisions and driving their business forward. Mintec recognised that the purchase ledger and accounts payable part of their finance function was time consuming and they were looking for a provider to manage this area.
Mintec chose to work with Seymour Taylor as we were local to where the company is based and they wanted to work with an accountancy firm that they would be able to meet with face to face. Mintec felt that Seymour Taylor were a good fit for their business as they were a good sized firm, who shared similar values to them and could offer a complete solution to meet their needs with a personable service.

Our Outsourced Accounting Services
At Seymour Taylor our Outsourced Accounting Services team can offer a range of time savings initiatives that can make a real difference to businesses like Mintec such as;
- Payroll bureau services and auto enrolment
- Bookkeeping
- Bank processing and reconciliations
- VAT returns, registrations and MTD compliance
- Management accounts
- Control checks
- Cloud software setup, support and training
“Within a month we were set up and ready to go. Seymour Taylor came into our offices and we showed them everything we needed in one go. They then picked it up and ran with it”.
Jack Saunders – Finance Manager – Mintec
Seymour Taylor’s outsourced accounting team support Mintec in the following areas;
- Each week we process purchase invoices on SAP Concur software.
- Mintec send the actual invoices to the Concur team, who upload them onto the system.
- We log onto Concur, view and check the invoices, allocate departments and nominal ledger accounts, enter details and check the net, VAT and gross values of the invoice.
- The invoices are then submitted to Mintec who approve them and upload them to the Accounting software, Netsuite.
- Once a fortnight, we process a payment run for Mintec, from the supplier’s payable on Netsuite. There are different types of payments, in different currencies, which we set up on their online banking system.
How this supports our clients
As Mintec have found, outsourcing aspects of your accounting function frees up the time that many business owners would rather spend doing what they do best – growing the company.
“We would definitely recommend Seymour Taylor, the work they do for us allows the finance team to focus on other areas. It was very quick to set up the services with Seymour Taylor and the benefits we saw were instant”.
Tom Smith Finance Director – Mintec
Other Benefits
Using Seymour Taylor’s outsourcing accounting services can help to reduce operational cost as the company is fully supported at all times as well as having access to a team of expert advisors. We can also advise on the latest technology and practices, keeping you one step ahead.
“The Seymour Taylor team have spotted certain areas that I would not have necessarily noticed, which have saved us time and money. They are very good at questioning things, which means we don’t have to get heavily involved, as they manage the process for us”.
Jack Saunders Finance Manager – Mintec
Our experienced team
We provide a dedicated team member to each client as their key contact. This enables us to build close relationships and to understand each clients’ needs so that we can provide the best possible reporting and advice. We are able to produce information in a variety of formats, tailored to the reporting requirements of each individual client.
“Everyone I have been involved with has been great to work with. I feel confident that the services we get from Seymour Taylor are being done well and it’s never too much trouble if we need something. For example I needed to change the days the invoice processing was carried out and Seymour Taylor amended this for us quickly and easily the same day”.
Jack Saunders Finance Manager – Mintec