Property Accountants

We use the latest cloud-based technologies and apps to take away the hassle of accounting and VAT and tax compliance.   You can release time to run your business and can concentrate on what is important in realising your property ambitions.

The development of cloud technology has seen the emergence of a wide range of cloud-based accounting software and associated add-on applications.  The on-demand availability of these cloud-based systems enables us to collaborate in real-time with our clients delivering efficiencies across their entire finance function, helping them work faster and smarter.

By taking advantage of API technology it’s also possible to configure integrated end-to-end cloud-based solutions enabling companies to operate their businesses more efficiently.

Harold Sharp has partnered with all the major cloud accounting providers to be able to tailor solutions based on your business needs rather than being tied to one particular product or provider.

We know that you want meaningful management reports which are:

• Accurate
• Produced to strict timescales
• Contain information which is relevant and easily understood.

We are used to tight reporting deadlines – typically 5 working days after a month end. We understand that keeping to these deadlines is not optional – you can rely on us to deliver. To do this we make use of the latest technologies and coordinate and communicate with both you and your key relationships – your property managers, your lawyers, your funders –  to understand your business and make sure we get things right.

We streamline the accounting and reporting processes and, wherever we can, make sure there is digital transfer of information.  But with a high number of qualified accountants on our team and years of experience, we know what we are doing.  We know the output we are expecting and we make sure the reports we issue are accurate and complete.

Real Estate often involves a host of tax compliance requirements and ever-changing legislation.  This is where our outsourced services come into their own, providing peace of mind that the compliance aspects of your business are being dealt with by professionals.

Services we typically provide to our clients include:

• VAT registration, options to tax, VAT filings.
• Corporate tax calculations and filings – often involving a host of considerations: deductibility of legal fees, rent spreading, treatment of premiums etc.
• Partnership tax computations and partnership tax return filings (LLPs, LPs or simple partnerships).
• CIS returns
• Payroll filings (a full payroll service is available if required)
• Trust tax returns.
• Trust IHT returns.
• Personal tax returns.
• Capital allowances maximisation

You want someone to be there at meetings and to be there on the end of the phone, to act as the “Finance Director” support for the business.   You want a trusted adviser who cuts through complexity and speaks your language – so you can use them as a guide to the financial and tax aspects of your property transactions.

We have a wealth of experience and we are there to support you and your business. We are not just number crunchers, or there to advise on a single transaction. We have excellent knowledge and experience of real estate tax, compliance and accounting matters. You can use us as a resource to provide the Finance Director type support you do not have in-house.

We can talk through the financing and structuring of your deal in a language you understand.  We are there to discuss your strategy and your exit.

Choosing the right ownership structure at the very outset of your business is important, for taxation, commercial, and legal reasons. Your choice can have very significant implications, at a time of potentially acute financial constraints, in terms of the management of early tax flows. But ownership structure needs to be kept under regular review throughout the business’s entire life cycle because it is quite likely to change for a host of good reasons.

Getting this right, to suit the needs and circumstances of both you and your business, can save an enormous amount of tax longer term, avoid a whole lot of commercial risk and remove a significant amount of anxiety from your working life.

In the UK alone, there are a whole host of options for what you use as your business “vehicle”. These include personal ownership, joint personal ownership, general partnership, Limited Liability Partnership (LLP), limited company, trust ownership, pension fund, and even overseas options in special circumstances.

We have been providing fully outsourced accounting and tax compliance services for many years for offshore structures investing into the UK.  In the past, these may well have provided shelter from capital taxes on investment property sales.

UK non-residents have been faced with the introduction of tax on capital gains on UK residential property from April 2015 and are now facing tax on UK commercial property from April 2019.  The compliance and reporting aspects are also changing.  You may be considering the “onshoring” of existing structures.  Or more commonly, you may for the first time, be using UK structures for your property investment.  This is where we can help guide you through the maze and also provide you with the outsourced accountancy and tax compliance requirements which you will find not only helpful but also hugely cost-effective.