White Knight Associates tackles FAQ's on Capital Allowances.

Shouldn't my accountant have claimed these already?

Capital allowances are a specialised area, particularly in the gap between "obviously movable" and "obviously immovable" assets. Recent cases have clarified what can and what cannot be claimed, but up to 96% of accountants and their clients are still unaware of the opportunities.

Is this 100% legal?

Yes,100%

How do I know whether my accountant has already claimed these allowances?

Has your accountant been round your property making detailed notes, a detailed inspection, and taking dozens( possibly hundreds) of photographs? If the answer is "no", you can be sure you have a valid claim to make.

I don't want to upset HMRC

Nor do we. If we acted in anyway questionably, we would soon be out of business. We have an established relationship with HMRC based on mutual understanding. Their role is to collect all taxes that are due, by applying the law in a consistent and fair manner. Case law has already established clear lines between what can and what cannot be claimed. We only identify claims that are strictly within the law and will be agreed by HMRC -provided your case is presented in the correct, approved manner. Throughout the process our specialist advisers will handle your claim for you, in collaboration with your accountant.

Will this take up much of my time?

We require only basic information from you; then we do all the work. When our surveyor visits the property they will glean most of the information they require: you actually need to provide very little.

This looks too good to be true.

There are no hidden catches. Your agreement with us is " no report - no fee".

We won't earn a penny unless we can identify at least £25000 of genuinely claimable capital allowances for you or your company.

What if you find me £24999 of claimable allowance?

Our promise is clear. If we do not find you additional claimable allowances of  £25000 or more, you owe us nothing. To be quite clear about this, you will not owe a penny to anyone: you can keep our report free or charge.

I own a small office block which I bought a few years ago. Is it now too late to claim these allowances?

No, it's very rarely too late. It is normally possible to claim missed allowances going back many years, often to when a property was originally acquired.

What are plant & machinery assets?

These are items which qualify for tax relief, and include such diverse items as sanitary ware, kitchen installations and heating installations.

Does claiming capital allowances reduce the value of my properties?

No, you have a right to claim capital allowances and, whether you claim them or not, they are not taken into account when property is valued for commercial or accounting purposes.

Will claiming capital allowances have an effect on my capital gains tax position, if I sell my property?

It is a common misunderstanding that claiming capital allowances somehow reduces your net purchase price, thereby increasing your capital gain tax liability. This is completely false. The tax legislation and HMRC guidelines make it clear that capital allowances will not increase a capital gain.

What is the annual investment allowance?

The AIA is available for most expenditure on plant or machinery, and the tax payer is free to allocate their AIA against plant machinery expenditure in anyway they choose. This is an area where White Knight Associates can help you and your accountant make the most appropriate allocation.

REMEMBER THAT CAPITAL ALLOWANCES ARE A RIGHT AND NOT A PRIVILEGE!

Source: PTC

For further information please contact White Knight Associates on 02033847230

Or check out our website www.wk-associates.com and request a call back from one of our consultants.

White Knight Associates Capital Allowances

Overview:

White Knight Associates work with Portal Tax Claims who are professional experts in the field of Capital Allowances and are widely recognised as one of the industry leaders. The company works extensively with some of the UK's largest IFA, Accountancy, Property and Legal networks to provide surveys and tax reports on commercial properties resulting in hundreds of millions of pounds being claimed.

If you own a commercial building, which includes HMOs, there is a 96% chance that you qualify for a substantial income tax or corporation tax refund.

A Capital Allowance claim is a retrospective or current claim based on the original purchase price and refurbishment costs of a building. It is not a contentious tax avoidance scheme or loophole but is based on established UK statutory law dating back to 1878. Applicants are not "guinea pigs" since thousands of cases have already been submitted and paid out.

White Knight Associates Key services:

We offer a risk free service and if we fail to identify at least £25,000 of claimable allowances you will owe us nothing and we will give you our report free of charge.

At PTC's expense we will ensure that you qualify for a claim, implement a professional survey of the building and develop an effective report in a format that HMRC find acceptable.

Should the report be challenged we will defend the claim at our own expense for the maximum required time of 6 years.

We provide a range fee structures to suit the differing needs of our clients  

Author: White Knight Associates

For more information please contact us on 02033847230 or visit our website

www.wk-associates.com

White Knight Associates speaks about capital allowances and why are they being over looked?

The answer is twofold. Capital allowances focus on a highly specialist area of the tax system and so it is no reflection on the professionalism or diligence of accountants that some allowances are not being claimed.

White Knight Associates reports: Capital allowances are costs that businesses incur that can be reclaimed against tax as defined by the Capital Allowances Act 2001. They cover a wide range of commercial property from hotels, retail, industrial and multi-let properties and there are surprisingly few exclusions, such as if the owner is a charity or pension fund, and just a handful of qualifying criteria stating that the owner must be a UK taxpayer, but this includes individual, LLPs, PLCs and Ltd companies.

Author: White Knight Associates

For more information please contact White Knight Associates.

www.wk-associates.com

Why is such an important opportunity being over looked? By White Knight Associates

One of the main messages regarding capital allowances is that this is neither a tax avoidance scheme nor a recent loophole that HMRC are unaware of and will regard with suspicion. The primary aim of the UK statutory law dating back to 1878 was to allow commercial property owners to improve their property and the provision of this benefit holds as true today as it did then. The law has been revised and refined over recent years and was simplified in a major way in 1971 to eliminate burdensome record-keeping and computational requirements; a further simplification in 1984 saw the elimination of initial and first year allowances, among others. Further revisions followed in 1990 and the current legislation we are working to is the Capital Allowance Act 2001.

Author Shaun Murphy PTC

White Knight Associates act as an introducing agent to PTC.

For more information please contact White Knight Associates www.wk-associates.com

White Knight Associates on Multi-Let/Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMOs)

HMRC Brief 45/10 issued on the 22nd October 2010 effectively stopped the majority of landlords/investors from making a worthwhile claim on their multi lets.

Pre 22nd October 2010 landlords were able to claim on all the communal areas of a dwelling excluding the actual bedrooms (classed as residential) themselves which would typically result in identifier has dramatically, reduced the client viability in claiming on the above properties.

Essentially under the new Brief you can no longer claim on the communal areas that support the bedrooms elements of the building i.e. kitchens, bathrooms, lounge & dining rooms. Previously a claim would off produced identified capital allowances in the region of 20-25% of the purchase price however under the new regime we expect this to be in the region of 7 to 12%!

However WK Associates can offer the following services:

For property purchases between 29th December 2008 and up to 22nd October 2010 we can make a multi let / HMO claim on the Pre Brief 45/10 basis whereby we can claim on everything except the actual bedrooms resulting in a claim against the original purchase price of approximately 20-25%.

Pre 29th December 2008 purchases White Knight Associates can still claim if the portfolio has a purchase price circa £1,000,000 + but the free report if under £25,000 per individual property will not be applicable and the individual properties of the portfolio have to be in the same vicinity as each other and each property within the portfolio must have a purchase price of at least £100,000. As in accordance with Brief 45/10 we calculate the expected allowances will be in the region of between 7 -12% of the purchase price.White Knight found that Capital Allowances of approximately 20% – 25% of the original purchase price, position on resale.

www.wk-associates.com

Source PTC

(White Knight Associates) Foreign Property allowances going to waste.

White Knight Associates realise property owners are looking to reap returns from their UK homes, many are forgetting that they may be owed substantial amounts of cash from their offshore properties.

Those who own furnished holiday lets, both in the UK and within the European Economic Area, could be entitled to claim large sums of money through sizeable capital allowances.

This comes down to the fact that despite the relatively small income that is generated from a furnished holiday let, it is still classified as a commercial property and therefore the owner is still entitled to claim.

Considering the current state of the European property market, this is good news for the majority of furnished holiday letters.

The conditions in Spain, where huge numbers of Brits currently own property, are among the worst and there are currently an estimated 700,000 empty new homes in the country.

The message then to the Brits who have held on to their overseas property through the financial turmoil is to claim back what is rightfully yours, before the opportunity is gone.

By Barry Williams www.wk-associates.com

About White Knight Associates LTD

White Knight associates works with Portal Tax Claims as a specialist capital allowance claims company which is part of the Portal Group that works in collaboration with your existing advisers to identify and create retrospective and current capital allowance claims that lead to significant tax refunds www.wk-associates.com

Claiming Capital Allowances on Globally Help Property by White Knight Associates

White Knight Associates would like to bring to your attention that If you own commercial property ANYWHERE in the WORLD and you are subject to UK Tax, then you are almost certainly eligible to claim substantial tax rebates from HMRC for past years, as well as continuing tax reliefs in the future.

However working with Portal Tax Claims, White Knight Associates have found, the relationship between capital allowances and capital gains is often misunderstood, as is the difference between the accounting and tax treatment of a property. Claiming capital allowances does not adversely affect your capital gains tax

Eligibility

White Knight Associates believe there are an estimated two million properties in the UK that do qualify:

·                                   The property is classified as commercial (e.g. shop, office, factory, warehouse
etc.)

·                                   Is not held in a pension fund, the government, charity or treated as stock.

·                                   The purchase price was at least £200,000 for the UK or £500,000 anywhere else in the World

·                                   The owner is a UK taxpayer – could be an individual, an LLP, a PLC or a Ltd company.

If you satisfy these four simple criteria, it is highly likely you will have a genuine
and significant claim to make. To Find out how to claim please go to http://www.wk-associates.com/ for more information.

Many distinctions are obvious: clearly office furniture is movable and the roof
is immovable. But what about air-conditioning plant, emergency lighting and alarm
systems? These are normally considered by accountants as “improvements” which are
immovable and not therefore eligible for capital allowances. But HMRC will agree
otherwise – provided you approach them in the correct way, with the correct information
presented in the approved manner.

What WK Associates have found is your accountants probably can’t do it for you, but we add value by working with them to make a successful claim.

In fact there is a common misconception that claiming Capital Allowances on integrated
plant and machinery reduces the base cost for CGT. This is not the case – in effect,
the owner gets double relief on the value of the integrated plant and machinery.

http://www.wk-associates.com/  

Business Premises Renovation Allowances by White Knight Associates

White Knight Associates would like to explain that business premises renovation allowances is intended to encourage companies or individuals to bring qualifying business premises, whether freehold or let, back into business use.

Working with Portal Tax Claims, WKA found that business premises renovation allowances provide a 100% initial allowance in the year the expenditure is incurred, or if it is preferred by the taxpayer, 25% per annum on a straight line basis. They are particularly valuable because all expenditure incurred qualifies, unlike commercial.

The Finance Act 2005 introduced a scheme enabling people or companies, who own or lease property that has been vacant for a year or more in designated disadvantaged areas of the UK, to claim full tax relief on their capital spending on the conversion or renovation of the property, in order to bring it back into business use. After protracted negotiations with the EU, implementation eventually took take place on 11 April 2007.

Expenditure must be incurred on the conversion, renovation, or incidental repairs of a ‘qualifying building’ into a ‘qualifying business premises’. WK Associates found the relief is not available for extensions (except to provide access to qualifying business premises), moveable plant and machinery, or property previously used, or to be used for certain trade sectors:

Qualifying Expenditure

It was found that the qualifying expenditure is capital expenditure on

•                             converting a qualifying building into qualifying business premises,
•                        the renovation of a qualifying building that is, or is to be, qualifying business premises, and
•                           repairs to a qualifying building.

We believe the following is not qualifying expenditure. Expenditure on:

•                        acquiring land,
•                     extending a qualifying building, or
•                         developing land next to a qualifying building.

For example, adding another storey to a qualifying building or creating a basement for a qualifying building is not qualifying expenditure.

Qualifying Building

A qualifying building is an unused commercial building or structure or part of an unused commercial building or structure. The building must have been unused for a year immediately before the conversion or renovation began. This means that it must not have been used for anything for a year before conversion begins. The last use must not have been as a dwelling.

Source: PTC

http://www.wk-associates.com/

White Knight simplifies Commercial Property Tax Claims

White Knight Associates on Capital Allowances

What Are Capital Allowances?

When you spend money buying or improving a property, HMRC allows you to offset some of that expenditure against your profits, or general income for tax purposes.

It’s your statutory right to claim.

By allowing a retrospective or current acquisition claim based on the purchase price. It is not a contentious tax avoidance scheme or loophole but is based on established UK statutory law dating back to 1878.

You are not a “Guinea Pig” as thousands of cases have already been submitted and paid out.

Will I qualify?

To claim capital allowances you (or your company) must satisfy the following criteria:

·     You are a UK taxpayer (Income Tax or Corporation Tax)

·   You own a UK commercial property with a minimum purchase of £200,000

·   OR you own a furnished holiday property either in the UK with a minimum purchase price of £200,000 or within the EEA with a minimum purchase price of £300,000 (collectively)

·   The property is not held fully within a pension fund, charity, government owned or traded as stock

White Knight Associates are an agent for a specialist capital allowance claims company Portal Tax Claims that works in collaboration with your existing advisers to identify and create retrospective and current capital allowance claims that lead to significant tax refunds. By adding value, our accounting and surveying experts identify previously unclaimed Capital Allowances reliefs that were part of the purchase price but were never identified during the buying process.

Typically we find Capital Allowances equivalent to 25% of the property’s purchase price and, if we don’t secure at least £25,000 in unclaimed allowances, you won’t owe anyone a penny.

Best of All……

Capital Allowances can be offset against any income  that they derive from.

If a company owns the asset, you can use the allowances against that company’s taxable profits and then against any other company within the same tax group, if a loss is created. Claims can be retrospective as there is no time limit on how far you can go back, in owning the property and you can even go back two tax years for a tax refund !

What Capital Allowances Can Be Claimed

It is routine for accountants to claim capital allowances for “movable” fixtures and fittings in a shop, for plant and machinery in a factory, or for furniture in a furnished holiday let. They cannot claim such allowances for the “immovable” fabric of the building, however, which is viewed as a non-depreciating asset. The opportunity we are concerned with is the class of assets in the grey area between “movable” and “immovable”. Clearly office furniture is movable and the roof is immovable. But what about air-conditioning plant, emergency lighting and alarm systems? These are normally considered by accountants as “freehold improvements” and not therefore eligible for capital allowances.

Even when businesses or individuals hear about our service, there is a common misconception that, because the expenditure occurred in the past, they have missed the boat. Not so! Indeed there is no time restriction on when you can claim these allowances.

For more information on capital allowances for commercial property please visit our website White Knight Associates Source Portal Tax Claims