1) Corporate tax – Matt recently advised a group of companies that develop and sell medical / pharmaceutical products, providing tax advice on a proposed restructure and advising on and implementing an incentive scheme. It was important that the advice was broad in scope as several taxes and taxing provisions needed to be considered together to ensure the structure worked efficiently for corporate and individual shareholders (including employees). Resolving a tax issue in one area while creating one in another would not have been welcome. It therefore required expertise across a range of personal and corporate taxes, as well as a degree of commerciality, the ability to advise within tight timeframes and work effectively with other advisors.

2) Real estate tax – Matt acted for a property investor to ensure it did not pay more tax than necessary in respect of an acquisition. In certain scenarios SDLT liabilities can legitimately be calculated in different ways, for example the purchase of several dwellings together with commercial land can attract either entirely commercial SDLT rates, or a combination of commercial SDLT rates and residential SDLT rates together with “multiple dwellings relief”. Correctly assessing the facts and navigating the possibilities (including agreeing the position with HMRC) dramatically reduced the anticipated SDLT liability, while also ensuring taxes such as VAT were correctly dealt with.