ACHIEVEMENTS

SOME ACHIEVEMENTS OF SHK At SHK, we do much more than add up your figures, calculate your tax bill and fill in your tax returns. Here's a few examples of how SHK has helped businesses in recent years. Tax Advice In 2002, when new tax rates for limited companies were announced, we immediately advised many of our clients that it would be beneficial to operate their business as a limited company, taking a low salary and withdrawing the rest of the company's profit as dividends. All clients following the advice are now significantly better off. For example, a sole trader earning an annual net profit of £16,000 has saved tax and national insurance of at least £9,747 between April 2002 and March 2007. Tax enquiries Whilst we cannot avoid tax enquiries, we have assisted several clients when they do happen. One client received a tax bill of £95,000 during the course of an inquiry. We disputed this and argued with the tax office who, eventually, reduced the bill to about £2,500. Bookeeping One client employed someone who maintained their accounting records and prepared their VAT returns. Circumstances arose when he needed assistance and asked SHK to help. We indentified a problem with the record-keeping, which we corrected and the client recieved a VAT refund of about £22,000. Status Issues One client had who had worked for him for almost 6 Years, without working for anyone else, working regular hours and days, worked on our client's premises using his equipment, was paid a weekly "wage" plus commision and always did the work personally. The tax office had already started an enquiry into the position when he became our client and had decided that the worker should have been treated as an employee. They charged our client tax and national insurance of about £20,000. We disagreed with their view and the matter proceeded to an independent court hearing. The tax office were represented by four tax inspectors (including the Area Director of the Regional Appeals office-one of only six in the country) and our client was represented by Stephen Kendrew of SHK. After a full days Court Hearing, it was accepted that the worker had been properly classed as self-employed. In total we have been involved with a number of status issue arguments with the tax office. Not that we're keeping score, but it's 25-0. We have never lost. VAT One client came to us with a business that was about to trade at a level over the VAT threshold. The client's previous accountants had just advised them to register for VAT. We suggested ways in which the business could be structured to avoid the need to register for VAT, and saving our client something like £10,000 each year. selling businesses One client had operated a business for several years and was considerng retirement. He felt that as a sole trader, no-one would be interested in the business and he intended to just shut the door and finish. We, however, felt the business was worth something and introduced him to another client. The business was eventually sold and our client received £45,000 more than he had anticipated.