On 15th September 2020, the FCA announced that it had been largely successful in its legal challenge brought against a number of insurers and their decisions to refuse coverage to small businesses claiming for COVID-19 related losses under their business interruption (BI) policies. Business Insurance Test Case Verdict Within the test case, the court considered… Read more »
In April, as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Companies House introduced temporary measures to its enforcement powers against companies that fail to comply with their statutory filing obligations. Those measures included: Pausing the strike of process to prevent companies from being dissolved; and Treating late filing penalty appeals sympathetically where the late delivery was… Read more »
Many experts expect that the government will soon introduce changes to capital gains tax. Support measures introduced by the UK government as a result of the coronavirus crisis are anticipated to have cost around £190 billion. This eye-watering sum was needed to help steer the economy through lockdown and into the much hoped for recovery…. Read more »
When owners reach a decision to sell their business, often the first assumption is to market their business for sale to a third party buyer. This process can be fraught and usually involves marketing the business for sale, due diligence and lengthy negotiations, which can be time consuming and expensive. However, more often there is… Read more »
Boris Johnson recently announced that, as part of the easing of lockdown restrictions, all non-essential shops across England may reopen from 15th June. However, this is subject to meeting the Government guidelines designed to protect shoppers and workers from the risk of infection. The announcement will be welcome news to many business owners, but for… Read more »
We are often approached by clients to draft a “shareholders’ agreement” for their Company. This is a good idea and clients are often prompted by their accountant or financial adviser to have such an agreement in place. However, that is only half the story. We also must consider (in this context) the Articles of Association… Read more »
Although there is no longer any statutory requirement for private companies limited by shares to hold an Annual General Meeting (AGM) in the same way as public companies, they may still be required to do so by their existing articles of association, or still maintain the practice of holding them once a year. If they… Read more »
As a result of Covid-19, Companies House has confirmed that companies will be able to apply for an immediate three-month extension period to file their accounts. Businesses were able to apply to make such an extension application from 25th March 2020. There are some exceptions where COVID-19companies have previously applied for an extension to their… Read more »
If you are looking at the options available for exiting your business, an Employee Ownership Trust (EOT) may be worth considering. Previously, an individual looking to sell their shares in their company to a trust for the benefit of the employees faced a potentially significant tax charge. However, since the introduction of the EOT under… Read more »
In our previous blog, Important changes to entrepreneurs’ relief announced in autumn 2018 budget, we explained how the proposed changes set out in the Autumn Budget 2018 appear to have added additional conditions that must be met in order for an individual shareholder to qualify for entrepreneur’s relief to reduce their Capital Gains Tax liability to… Read more »
