Our Services

Succession & Retirement Planning

There are a number of extremely valuable tax reliefs relating to Capital Gains Tax (CGT) and Capital Acquisitions Tax (CAT), potentially available on the transfer of trading assets and it has been well-signaled that these are under threat of abolition or restriction. Added to this are likely future increases in the CGT and CAT rates, as well as reductions in CAT-free thresholds.

As a result, many clients who have been considering their personal retirement for some time are taking advantage of the current tax regime to plan the transfer of assets.

While many of our clients often consider their overall wealth and estate plan from a tax perspective only, we encourage a holistic approach including commercial and practical issues, such as likely investment growth, the realities of asset management and personal cashflow. We understand too that family dynamics and relationships are also a key driver in producing a comprehensive plan for personal retirement planning. It is here that our cross-disciplinary team excel as our financial services team work closely with our tax advisors to cover all issues surrounding investment strategies, pension planning, and the tax implications of gifts and inheritances.

Succession of an owner-manager business is another extremely important element of retirement planning, whether by way of outright disposal of the business or by passing management on to the next generation, who may or may not be family members. We assist our clients in creating a succession plan in order to facilitate their retirement by focusing on both their personal needs, the needs of their family and their business.

Examples of recent advice we have provided in this area include:

• Gift of shares in a substantial family group from the founding generation to their sons and daughters now running the business, involving some corporate restructuring to streamline the group structure.
• Restructuring of share rights to ensure the tax-efficient transfer of company shares whilst allowing for the retention of control.
• Gift and company buy-back of shares in a family business, as well as pension planning and advice on termination payments for the original owner, ensuring that the original owner has a solid financial plan for retirement and the company is being driven by the next generation of owner-managers.
• For a large number of clients, we provide projections in relation to net income required, projected pension values and other income streams (rents, dividends, deposit interest, etc.), which in turn informs their decisions in relation to gifts and inheritances.
• Separation of trading and investment assets within a business, in order to facilitate the transfer of a business whilst allowing the original owners to retain a personal income stream from the rental property.
• Overall assessment of the estate of wealthy parents – recommendations in relation to the provision of 27 lifetime gifts which facilitated the tax-efficient transfer of assets whilst retaining sufficient income generating assets in the parents’ownership.