The following scenario often arises with our client Mr Investor, who is considering investing in an early-stage business. Wonderful Ltd is an established FinTech company which has developed a track record of an established user base, consistent revenue figures and other key performance indicators. Wonderful Ltd is now seeking to raise Series A funding of £1.5 million in order to further optimize its user base and product offerings. Mr Investor has received an Investment Memorandum for the funding round and is considering allocating a small proportion of his investment portfolio. Mr Investor has asked his accountant to run through the Investment Memorandum with him and has identified five reasons why he wishes to invest. Being an early-stage business, Mr Investor acknowledges that the investment is inherently high-risk, but he really believes in the founder Mrs Wonderful, who attended the same university. The generous Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) tax breaks “cushion” the risk element of the investment (see below) but nonetheless, the minimum investment of £75,000 is punchy for Mr Investor.
Mr Investor has an idea. Can he pool together capital from two other friends in order to meet the £75,000 minimum investment? Will each investor still be eligible for the EIS tax relief for joint investment?
Joint Investment – A Problem Shared is a Problem Halved
In short, there is a way to pool funds in order to meet one investment clip of £75k. EIS relief is available for an individual who makes the subscription on his or her own behalf, with two notable exceptions:
Mr Investor can therefore form a bare trust with his friends (as in point 2) in order to make a direct investment jointly. Where shares are issued to a bare trust on behalf of a number of beneficiaries, each beneficiary is treated as having subscribed, as an individual, for the total number of shares issued to the bare trustees divided by the number of beneficiaries. This creates an important limitation in that each of the three friends should invest an equal percentage in Wonderful Ltd.
Paperwork
Wonderful Ltd should provide each subscriber form EIS3 showing the total number of shares subscribed for on Page 1 of the form. Form EIS3 Page 3 should show the amount on which each owner is entitled to claim the tax relief for the shares, that is the fractional amount of the total subscribed.
Tax Relief?
Whilst joint investment does not preclude EIS tax relief, Mr Investor and his associates must of course check that all the other EIS eligibility criteria are met for EIS tax relief to apply. Mouktaris & Co can provide a checklist of questions to ask in order to determine whether tax relief under EIS is available to an investor in shares. The target company may produce an Advance Assurance document to potential investors demonstrating that HMRC accepts the investment under the scheme, however Advance Assurance will not tell you if an investor would meet the conditions of the scheme.
EIS Investment Funds
A different route (via point 1 above) would be for Mr Investor to invest via an EIS investment fund, which is structured as a nominee vehicle which invests funds in EIS-qualifying companies on behalf of investors. This vehicle would provide Mr Investor with a more diversified risk exposure to early-stage businesses, as his £25,000 investment would be spread across a number of target companies identified by the fund manager. Wonderful Ltd may seek to market its strengths to the EIS investment fund manager so as to be included in the fund’s equity holdings. So in fact Mr Investor could in the future invest in Wonderful Ltd through an EIS investment fund without necessarily being reliant on his friends’ capital.
EIS for Investors: Advantages
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Calls for a wealth tax have so far been made with little impact, amid fears that a levy on assets would not go down well with conservative – or even not-so-conservative voters, and could hurt people with valuable homes but little cash. However, the Wealth Tax Commission said the timing was ripe for radical change due to the devastating impact of Covid on the public finances and on inequality in Britain.
The Wealth Tax Commission was established in Spring 2020 to ‘provide in-depth analysis of proposals for a UK wealth tax’. It’s not a government body, but a ‘think-tank’ funded by the London School of Economics, Warwick University and the Economic and Research Council (itself a public body). The Commissioners comprise a senior academic from the LSE and Warwick university and a very well-known tax barrister.
Whilst conclusions published last week may therefore not directly reflect government policy, they do propose an academic and practical solution to shore up public finances in these times of crisis – and should be afforded some serious attention. Readers may consult the full 126-page report here. For those with less time, the key points are below.
The report does not argue for the idea of an annual wealth tax. However, it’s strongly in favour of the levying of a wealth tax on a one-off basis to deal with an exceptional need – being that of repairing the alarming hole in public finances caused by coronavirus. The basic premise is therefore based not on redistribution but pragmatism – and the best place to get the money is from people who have it.
Interestingly, that pragmatism contrasts with the reasons that people who support the idea of wealth tax give for doing so: ‘filling a hole in public finances’ comes in only at fourth place, after ‘the gap between rich and poor is too large’; ‘the rich have got richer in recent years’; and ‘better to tax wealth rather than income from work’.
The report leans on a simplified design and implementation to maximise the efficacy of the tax – with the scope to avoid the net limited to such matters as redistribution, relocation or releveraging – all within a potentially short period of time.
How do the Commissioners propose a Wealth Tax should work?
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It can be daunting going to work in a foreign country, or coming to work in the UK. Understanding how tax and social security are affected by making such a move can add to the list of complexities you have to deal with.
CONFIRMING UK TAX RESIDENCE
As a new UK resident, foreign tax authorities are often forthcoming with their requests for proof of UK tax residence. The tax authority in Greece for example may require a former resident of Greece to prove that he or she is now regarded by HMRC as a resident of the UK. Customers may also want HMRC to confirm that they are regarded as UK resident so that they can claim relief from foreign taxes which they might be entitled to under the domestic law of the foreign state rather than under the terms of the UK’s DTA with that other state.
Our personal tax desk at Mouktaris & Co is thoroughly versed in the process of obtaining proof of UK tax residence. As a first step, it’s important to distinguish what exactly is required.
LETTER OF CONFIRMATION OF RESIDENCE VS CERTIFICATE OF RESIDENCE (COR)
A Letter of Confirmation of Residence is confirmation that the taxpayer is regarded by HMRC as a resident of the UK for purposes other than claiming relief from foreign taxes under the terms of a Double Taxation Agreement (DTA).
The worked required to obtain a Certificate of Residence (CoR) on the other hand is more involved and will require the taxpayer to outline the following:
TAX RESIDENCE WHEN COMING TO THE UK, OR LEAVING THE UK
Having moved to the UK, an overseas assignment may turn out to be a permanent move; similarly a stint abroad may be intended for a finite length of time. In any case the length and timing of one’s time spent outside the UK, any return visits made to the UK and what personal ties are maintained with the UK are important. These factors will determine tax residence when coming to the UK in the year of arrival, or leaving the UK in the year of departure. The taxation of residents and non-residents is very different.
ADVISING ON TAX RESIDENCE IN THE YEAR OF ARRIVAL OR LEAVING
Based on the above and in order to advise properly, it’s important to:
Whether you’re an existing client or don’t yet use our services, we would be pleased to help you. Contact Mouktaris & Co Chartered Accountants for expert advice or click here to subscribe to our Newsletter.
Expanding the UK Government’s measures to protect people and businesses from the economic impact of coronavirus, the Chancellor now focused on self-employed individuals (including members of partnerships) whose incomes have suffered.
The Self-employment Income Support Scheme, announced on 26 March 2020, will come as a welcome relief to those in self-employment, who comprise 15.3% of the UK’s workforce. The new scheme will cover 95% of those who are self-employed.
Under the scheme, a grant will be provided to self-employed individuals or partnerships, worth 80% of their profits up to a cap of £2,500 per month. This brings parity with the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, announced by the Chancellor last week, where the Government committed to pay up to £2,500 each month in wages of employed workers who are furloughed during the outbreak.
Second lump sum for self-employed [29/05/2020 UPDATE]
The Chancellor has announced a second and final grant to the self-employed who are eligible for the Self-employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS), based on 70% of earnings and capped at £6,570.
HMRC has confirmed the same eligibility criteria will be used to establish self-employed individuals’ entitlement to a further SEISS grant; the grant will be 70% rather than 80% of average earnings for three months and the maximum amount will be capped at £6,570, down from the £7,500 for the first grant. Applications will open in August and HMRC expects to publish further guidance on 12 June. As with the first claim, the second claim has to made by the taxpayer and cannot be made by agents.
QUALIFYING FOR THE SCHEME
We are doing everything we can to help our business community. If you would like to discuss how the changes or the coronavirus pandemic may affect you or your business, please do not hesitate to contact us on 020 8952 7717 or use our online enquiry form.
HMRC has published details of the specific helpline to contact, but it’s not known whether HMRC will change its usual approach to time to pay, for taxpayers who are having difficulty paying.
The following usually needs to be considered when negotiating time to pay with HMRC.
WHEN TO MAKE CONTACT – In general it is advisable to contact HMRC as soon as difficulty making payment is expected. However, HMRC’s systems do not easily facilitate setting up a payment arrangement too far in advance, so the best time to phone HMRC is usually one to two weeks in advance of the due date for payment.
MAKE SURE RETURNS ARE UP TO DATE – HMRC is more amenable to agreeing time to pay if returns are up to date and the correct liability has been established.
CASH FLOW FORECASTS AND BUDGETS – Before phoning HMRC it is advisable to have financial forecasts and a statement of assets and liabilities available. HMRC will expect the taxpayer to make the best offer they can and will not usually make suggestions about the amount it will accept as a regular payment.
HMRC STAFF AUTHORITY TO AGREE TIME TO PAY – HMRC will usually expect to set up a regular monthly payment plan with collection by direct debit. Most HMRC debt management contact centre staff have authority to agree time to pay over a period of up to 12 months. Longer periods can be arranged but usually need to be escalated to more senior HMRC staff.
EXPECT ROBUST QUESTIONING – We don’t know to what extent HMRC staff will be more sympathetic to requests for time to pay in the current environment but in normal circumstances negotiating time to pay can involve what feels like personal and intrusive questioning. It is important to make HMRC aware of all information which might be relevant to the payment difficulties, as calmly and professionally as is possible in what may well be extremely difficult circumstances.
NO AGREEMENT MAY BE BETTER THAN AN UNAFFORDABLE AGREEMENT – It is often better to conclude a phone call to HMRC having failed to reach an agreement than to agree to an arrangement which the business can’t afford. If a time to pay agreement is not kept to it is difficult to get HMRC to reestablish it and HMRC will be more reluctant to make agreements in the future. If circumstances change it is advisable to contact HMRC, before missing any payments, to renegotiate the arrangement. If a formal time to pay arrangement cannot be reached it is usually advisable for the taxpayer to pay what they can when they can as this shows willingness to pay and may delay further enforcement action by HMRC (this approach may not be appropriate if insolvency is likely and further advice should be sought in this situation).
FUTURE TAX LIABILITIES – A standard term of HMRC time to pay agreements is that future tax liabilities are paid in full as they fall due. Where this is not possible it is necessary to contact HMRC again to renegotiate the arrangement to include the new debt. HMRC is often reluctant to agreed repeated requests for time to pay but may be more amenable in the current situation.
WHICH DEBTS TO PRIORITISE – HMRC is usually more willing to consider agreeing time to pay for profits based taxes such as income tax and corporation tax than for taxes such as VAT and employees’ PAYE and national insurance contributions, which businesses are effectively collecting on behalf of the exchequer. The usual advice is to prioritise paying VAT and employer liabilities as HMRC pursues these more actively. We don’t yet know whether this will change in the current situation; there has been some speculation that the Government may be minded to focus assistance on VAT and employer liabilities but no announcement has been made.
LATE PAYMENT PENALTIES – An advantage of a formal time to pay arrangement is that late payment penalties will not be charged if the arrangement is in place at the trigger date for the penalties. We don’t yet know whether HMRC will be more willing to waive late payment penalties in the current situation but the helpline page suggests that the cancellation of penalties will at least be explored.
INTEREST – In normal circumstances HMRC does not waive interest unless the delay in making payment is somehow directly attributable to HMRC. We don’t yet know whether HMRC will be more willing to waive interest in the current situation but the helpline page suggests that the cancelling of interest will at least be explored.
ALTERNATIVE WAYS TO CONTACT HMRC – As well as the COVID-19 helpline HMRC has regular payment helplines. Large businesses with a customer compliance manager should contact that individual. If the debt is a result of a compliance check any anticipated difficulty with making payment should be discussed with the compliance officer, ideally before reaching final settlement.
We are doing everything we can to help our business community. If you would like to discuss how the changes or the coronavirus pandemic may affect you or your business, please do not hesitate to contact us on 020 8952 7717 or use our online enquiry form.
As predicted, HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has started firing, quite unpredictably, Certificates of tax position concerning offshore income or gains. In the firing line are taxpayers who the revenue believes have not correctly disclosed their worldwide income to HMRC. The requirement for a UK resident to disclose and pay tax on all overseas income and gains is age-old, but was often overlooked: clouded by the murky waters that separated national tax positions. Now the gunpowder, or information source, are the Common Reporting Standards (CRS), a commitment by over 100 countries to exchange taxpayer information on a multilateral basis and increase international tax transparency.
Taxpayers are being encouraged to use HMRC’s Worldwide Disclosure Facility (WDF) to come clean and disclose their non-UK income and assets, including additional tax liabilities together with penalties and interest. This could include income arising from a source outside the UK, assets situated or held outside the UK or activities carried on wholly or mainly outside the UK. The challenge can surmount to a daunting prospect for wealthy individuals with global, inter-connected and complex tax affairs. The declaration will affect not only past, but also future tax liabilities.
As part of the disclosure, made via the online Digital Disclosure Service, the taxpayer also needs to self-assess his or her behaviour, ranging from “careless” to “deliberate and concealed”. This self-assessment is an integral part of disclosure that determines the penalties applied and whether further action is warranted. Understanding the spirit of the Requirement to Correct (RTC) legislation is therefore crucial, for mis-reporting could compound the already very penile penalty rate, equivalent to 200% of the tax liability which should have been disclosed to HMRC under the RTC but was not. Rather frightfully, HMRC reserves complete discretion to conduct a criminal investigation in relation to the disclosure, whether it appears to be complete or incomplete.
The inevitable question arises: how much does HMRC now know, or rather, not know.
Tax investigations can be stressful if you are going it alone and most often merit professional advice. Our team of advisors in North West London is here to help.
Contact Mouktaris & Co Chartered Accountants to ensure that you report correctly and avoid the potential repercussions, of getting it wrong.