Services

With some advance planning, we can help ensure that any resulting tax liabilities are minimised as after the fact, many options may no longer be available to you or your business.

Whether it is income tax, corporation tax or VAT, there can be numerous ways to minimise your liabilities. Leonard & Company Accountants will always carry out a full review of your circumstances to ensure that you are availing of all deductions, credits and reliefs that you are entitled to. We also provide tax planning advice and consultancy on a range of areas such as selling your business, planning for retirement and succession planning.

Personal Income Tax

An income tax return – Form 11 - is required to be filed with Revenue if you have income from sources other than PAYE, typically if you are self-employed, a company director or own more than 15% of the shares in a company. However you may be required to file an annual Income Tax Return if you are in receipt of Rental income, Investment income, Foreign income and foreign pensions, Maintenance payments, Social Welfare Pensions, or gains arising on exercising various Share Options/Share Incentives.

It is always advisable to prepare your tax return as well in advance of the deadline filing. We can file your prepare and file return from February onwards but the payment will not be due until the 31st October. In the event that there is a balance of income tax to pay, you will have a number of months to fund the liability as the payment is not due until 31st October. Early filing does not bring forward the payment date.

Corporation Tax

Leonard & Company offer a wide range of corporate tax services to an extensive range of existing corporate clients.  We will work closely with you to ensure minimum tax exposure. Although the rate of corporation tax is relatively low, it can still represent a significant annual cost to any business. In order to facilitate the growth of your company, it is vital to ensure that the most tax efficient structure is in place and all possible reliefs and incentives are availed of.

In addition to submitting annual corporation tax returns companies, Leonard & Company can assist you in the following areas:

• Corporate Structure. Should you incorporate your business or continue as a sole trader? Should your different businesses be held in one company, in separate companies, or within a corporate group? Should you buy shares in a new company directly or via a holding company? We can advise you on the most tax efficient structure given your current needs and future plans.

• Mergers, Acquisitions, Reorganisations. We can advise you on the tax efficient partition of businesses within your company, whether to facilitate the sale of part of your business or to achieve a more desirable group structure going forward. We can also advise you on the most tax efficient way in which you or your company can acquire the shares or business of another. Our tax specialists can also assist in the tax due diligence examination of any company you may be buying or selling.

• Extracting assets / realising shareholders value. We can advise you on the most tax efficient manner in which to extract assets from your company, both on an on-going basis, retirement and succession planning and selling your shares in the company.

• Research and Development. We can advise you on how to avail of the very generous tax incentives available for research and development activities carried out in Ireland, including accelerated capital allowances, tax credits for incremental expenditure and the tax exemption available for certain patent royalty income. We can also provide expert advice and assistance on management buyouts, company share buybacks, and any day-to-day tax issues which may arise in running a company.

Capital Taxes

This category is divided in to Capital Acquisitions Tax and Capital Gains Tax. Leonard & Company Accountants have a wealth of knowledge on the most tax efficient way to dispose you’re your capital assets. Please contact us before you have committed to the disposal so we can review your personal circumstances.

Capital Acquisitions Tax

If you receive a gift, you may have to pay Gift Tax on it. If you receive an inheritance following a death, it may be liable to Inheritance Tax. Both these taxes are types of Capital Acquisitions Tax. The benefit (the gift or inheritance) is taxed if its value is over a certain limit or threshold. Different tax-free thresholds apply depending on the relationship between the disponer (the person giving the benefit) and the beneficiary (the person receiving the benefit). There are also a number of exemptions and reliefs that depend on the type of the gift or inheritance. If you receive a gift or inheritance from your spouse or civil partner, you are exempt from Capital Acquisitions Tax.

Capital Gains Tax

The benefit (the gift or inheritance) is taxed if its value is over a certain limit or threshold. Different tax-free thresholds apply depending on the relationship between the disponer (the person giving the benefit) and the beneficiary (the person receiving the benefit). There are also a number of exemptions and reliefs that depend on the type of the gift or inheritance. If you receive a gift or inheritance from your spouse or civil partner, you are exempt from Capital Acquisitions Tax.

Revenue Audits

Every business, large or small, will be subject at some stage to an audit, investigation or enquiry by the Revenue Commissioners. This complex area is governed by statute law, case law, codes of practice and precedent. A Revenue audit is a cross-check of the information and figures shown by you in your tax returns against those shown in your business records. Revenue audit can cover Income Tax, Corporation Tax or Capital Gains Tax returns and/or the returns submitted in respect of VAT, PAYE/PRSI or Relevant Contracts Tax (RCT).

Revenue use three methods of selection. These are:

Screening tax returns:

The vast majority of audit cases are selected in this way. Screening involves examining the returns made by a variety of taxpayers and reviewing their tax compliance history. The figures are then analysed in the light of trends and patterns in the particular business or profession and evaluated against other available information.

Projects on business sectors:

From time to time, projects are conducted to examine tax compliance levels in particular trades or professions. The returns for a large number of taxpayers in a particular sector are screened in detail and a proportion of these are selected for audit.

Random selection:

This is in addition to the first two methods. It means that all taxpayers have a possibility of being audited. Each year, a small proportion of audit cases is selected using this method.

Revenue enquiries and investigations are on the increase. Unfortunately there is no hiding from them and they are time-consuming, stressful and expensive to deal with. Leonard & Company Accountants will be able to assist in your preparations before the Revenue Audit so you have answers to the queries before they are asked by the Revenue Commissioners.

Below is a list of some of the services where we would have specialist expertise;

• Compliance for corporate and individuals on all taxes
• Tax based investments
• VAT on property
• Tax efficient remuneration schemes
• Tax based planning
• Estate Planning
• Tax effective personal wealth enhancement
• Revenue audits and tax investigations