Private Client August Monthly Update

Team update

It has been a busy few months for the Private Client team, with a series of promotions, exam passes, new hires and big client wins.

In May, Ashley Stoller joined the team as Private Client Manager and in July, Holly Heslop was promoted to Private Client Assistant Manager.

Nathan Byford, Private Client Graduate Tax Trainee, was successful in passing his ATT Paper one exam and Holly  passed her CTA Advanced Technical IHTTE exam.

Tomorrow is Jamie Bligh’s last day at LB Group, and we wish him the very best in his next role. We thank Jamie for all his hard work at LB Group.

Our team is becoming increasingly busy, and we are therefore looking for a new trainee to join our team – make sure you read our recent post on this if you are interested or know someone who might be! Private Client Tax Trainee (Stratford or Colchester) – Accountants Essex, London, Suffolk | LB Group (lbgroupltd.com)

Recent wins

As a team, we have had a series of recent wins in recent weeks and months as follows:

Establishing family investment companies, (FICs) which involves liaising with a series of third parties, such as financial planners, investment managers, lawyers etc. The work involved includes discussing the plans of the family and tailoring an in-depth plan to meet their objectives. See Clare’s recent post on FICs here – Private Client Spotlight: Does your client hold shares in an Investment Company – LB Marketing Blog (lbgroup.systems)

Completing disclosures to HMRC for unreported income and gains. For example, recently one of our clients had undisclosed income and gains resulting in a tax liability of around £330,000. We were able to successfully negotiate with HMRC to have penalties reduced to £nil resulting in a saving to the client of at least £33,000.

Advising a client on the tax implications of encashing a bond, which involved a technical analysis of the policy structure and calculating the potential gain itself.

We have been involved in administering an estate which involved applying for probate, completing the relevant Inheritance Tax returns and dealing with the reporting regarding sale of estate assets and distributions to the beneficiaries.

We have advised clients on the ability to transfer part of their beneficial ownership of properties to their spouse to maximise tax savings. The work involved drafting Declarations of Trust and filing the appropriate forms with HMRC.

We have been advising trustees on closing offshore trust structures. The work involved an analysis the existing structure and providing in-depth analysis to the offshore trustees of the benefits of retaining the structures, along with the downfalls and providing detailed tax analysis of the potential costs of retaining and closing the structures.

We have been engaging with non-domiciled individuals in relation to the upcoming non-domicile changes. Whilst the rules are mostly unknown, we have a fairly good idea as to what they will be. We have been approaching the individuals to assess their offshore assets, income and gains and in the hope to prepare detailed advice in    relation to how their tax affairs are likely to change after 6 April 2025 along with any planning opportunities they can take advantage of before the rules change.

The work has come from a range of sources including referrals from professional contacts, cross referrals from other teams and identifying planning opportunities from our existing client base.

Upcoming activities

Whilst the team are continuing to explore their vast collection of contacts to further the relationships with co-professionals, Clare and Ashley will be travelling to Guernsey and Jersey at the end of October, to meet with a range of professional Trustees to further the close relationship we have with them and try to expand the LB Group’s Private Client’s offshore presence.