Greetings Friends of Oury Clark,

It’s that time of year when everyone pushes out the same annual list of things to do before the end of the tax year (and yes, we are no exceptions). Unlike everyone else, we have our heroes Oury & Clark hopping around like the Tax-Perts that they are to make sure that they are hoovering up all your allowances for you. Let’s be honest, it’s more fun than a list.

EIS Deferral Relief – Your Secret End Of Year Tax Benefit.

Did you know that there is one thing that practically everyone ignores that can give you a bumper tax benefit? That thing is EIS deferral relief and how you use it.

Simply put. If you have made a taxable gain – e.g. by selling a second home or realising your investments – you can invest that gain in an EIS qualifying investment. Doing this will mean that you are able to defer the capital gain for as long as the money stays invested (as long as the EIS conditions aren’t breached of course).

So far so what? If you are risk averse and don’t want to invest in someone else’s company this might sound like all pain and no gain, but here’s the twist.  Unlike normal EIS relief you can invest in the capital gain in your own company or one that you are connected to (e.g. you own 30% or more of – or your spouse / partner / kids do). Not many people realise that for the EIS deferral relief only, you can do this. You can use the rule to invest in any business that otherwise qualifies for EIS, meaning your tax relief can boost the growth of your business.

If you want to know more about EIS deferral relief (and with a title like that who wouldn’t) either get in touch with us here or speak to your usual contact. They’ll also be able to make sure that you are doing the things on everyone else’s lists (if you want our list, it’s at the bottom of the email).

Grow Baby Grow

Spring is here, shoots are budding and growth is on everyone’s lips. A lot of people are talking about it, but we are more interested in the people actually stimulating it. That’s why we were delighted to have the MD of Grow London – Janet Coyle (a CBE no less) – on the podcast recently.

Grow London is the part of London & Partners that encourages British Businesses to grow internationally and attract international business investment in the Capital.

Janet is very glass half full about the prospects for London as a business innovation hub, particularly for businesses in things like quantum and AI, but also mindful that the growth needs to be inclusive if it’s to be truly successful.

You can catch our conversation on Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts

Spreading Our Wings

We are deep in the throes of planning for our next round around the world to come and (hopefully) come and meet some of you lovely people face to face. If you’d like to arrange a meeting simply click on the relevant link.

The provisional list of towns / countries and dates is:

Houston & Austin – 4th Mar – 24th Mar (Jemma.Hotta@ouryclark.com)
Toronto – 22nd Mar – 28th Mar (Emma.FlorentinLee@ouryclark.com)
Los Angeles – 24th Mar – 28th Mar (Amelia.Hook@ouryclark.com)
Denver – 24th Mar – 28th Mar (Andy.Oury@ouryclark.com)
Chennai – 28th Apr – 29th Apr (Emma.FlorentinLee@ouryclark.com)
Bangalore – 28th Apr – 2nd May (Emma.FlorentinLee@ouryclark.com)
Chicago – 12th May -16th May (Hayden.Sym@ouryclark.com)
San Francisco – w/c 26th May TBC (Amy.Enslin@ouryclark.com)
Vancouver – w/c 26th May TBC (Amy.Enslin@ouryclark.com)
Finland – May / June TBC (Emma.Crowley@ouryclark.com)

We are also planning to visit Germany, Switzerland and cities around the UK (and many other countries) in the second half of the year. So if you want to make sure that we are coming to see you get in touch with us via your usual contact or here.

Offset the NICS Rise

Not all growth is good, and the April rise in employers’ national insurance contributions is one thing we are putting in the bad growth box. There is still time to talk to your employees about the “salary sacrifice lever” we mentioned in our last newsletter.

If you’d like to know more about the opportunity, your quickest way is to get in touch with our Financial Services team directly. They can probably help you with your end of year checklist as well.

End of Tax Year Checklist

Speaking of end of tax year checklists, we couldn’t resist. It’s quite a long list, we couldn’t fit everything into the game. If you want someone else to tick everything off for you, we are, of course, happy to help. So, deep breath:

• Use EIS deferral relief
• Use your CGT allowance(s)
• Use your dividend allowance(s)
• Check your home office allowance and employees expenses
• (who doesn’t like a P11D)
• Top up your ISA(s) – use your allowance
• Top up your pension(s)
• (if you can use up your entire allowance we salute you!)
• Consider Junior ISAs and Junior SIPPs for your kids
• Fill in any NI gaps and boost your state pension
• Check your child benefit
• Check your tax code
• Think about estate planning, gifting and wider inheritance tax planning

You have until April 5th to get everything in order, we’d advise that you don’t leave it to the last minute. If you’d like our help then either get in touch with your usual contact or email us here.