Tax Planning

Planning is not the same as filing

Most people meet their accountant in July, when every fact about the previous year is already fixed. At that point the return can be filed accurately and nothing more — the decisions that would have changed the number were available in May, or the previous October, and have passed.

Tax planning is deciding, in advance and legitimately, how income arises and when. It is not aggressive schemes, and we will not sell you one; arrangements with no commercial purpose beyond saving tax are exactly what gets reopened later, and the interest and penalty land on you rather than on whoever suggested it.

What is actually decidable

• Business structure. Proprietorship, partnership, LLP and private limited are taxed differently and carry different compliance costs. The right answer depends on profit, on whether you draw everything out, and on whether you expect outside investment. This is worth revisiting as the business grows, not just at the start.
• Regime choice. New versus old is a yearly decision for salaried people and a much stickier one once business income is involved. Worth modelling rather than defaulting.
• Presumptive taxation. For eligible small businesses and professionals this can cut both tax and bookkeeping substantially — but it has turnover limits and consequences if you leave the scheme, so it is a decision to take with the numbers in front of you.
• Timing. When invoices are raised, when capital purchases happen, when a gain is realised. Advance tax instalments fall across the year, and getting them wrong costs interest quite apart from the tax.
• Depreciation and capital spend. The year an asset is bought and put to use changes what can be claimed.

How we work on this

This is not a form-filling service, so there is no fixed checklist. Typically it starts with a conversation about what the business actually does and where it is heading, followed by a look at the last return and the current year to date. What comes out of it is a short set of specific things to do, with dates, rather than general advice.

Two honest limits. First, we will tell you when the answer is that there is nothing much to optimise — for plenty of small businesses the tax is simply the tax, and the useful work is in compliance rather than planning. Second, we handle business and personal tax; investment advice is a different licence and a different profession, and we will say so rather than improvise.

Dates, fees and form numbers on this page were checked on 5 September 2026. Government timelines change; if you are reading this much later, confirm with us before you rely on it.

Common questions