Accountancy Services in and around London, Surrey and Hampshire:

Property businesses

Property has been a great investment over the last umpteen years — despite the current troubles.

Company or personal investment?

Some people invest personally, others prefer to do it through a company. The best route depends on your attitude to risk, tax considerations, and whether you want to pool your resources with other people.

Accounts and tax

The personal approach may seem simplest until things go wrong. The company route provides a more formal framework that allows you to keep it away from your personal life and makes it easier to bring in other people by different shareholdings. This way you’ll probably need an audit, which Chamberlains will happily provide.

Whichever way you go, you’ll need accounts, and taxes will need sorting out — taxes on profits from rent or sale, and VAT on sale, purchase and expenses. None of this is straightforward, and you need to get proper advice beforehand, not afterwards. When you’re talking about large amounts of money, as is normally the case with property, tax savings can be very worthwhile — but losses can be disastrous. A welcome tax complication — there are various tax allowances available — but these need to be claimed; they’re not automatic.

Contact Chamberlains for a discussion of the possibilities.