Core service
Business & Tax Advisory
By the time a transaction is on the return, its tax treatment has already been decided — by how it was structured, when it was done, and what the documents say. Advisory is the work of getting those three right while they can still be changed.
Compliance answers what happened. Advisory answers what should happen, and it is worth more because the options are still open. Whether to take profits as salary or as a share of profit, whether to hold property personally or in an entity, whether a payment attracts deduction at source, whether an arrangement between family members will be respected — each of these is settled at the point of decision and is expensive to revisit afterwards.
There is a line here that matters. Tax planning is arranging affairs within the framework the law provides, and it is entirely legitimate — the Act itself contains the deductions, the exemptions and the elections that make it possible. What is not legitimate is an arrangement with no commercial purpose other than the tax it saves, and the anti-avoidance provisions exist precisely to disregard those. Advice from this firm stays on the first side of that line, and where a proposal is on the wrong side of it you will be told so rather than helped with it.
Advice of consequence is given in writing, with the provision relied on and the reasoning stated. That is partly so you can act on it with confidence, and partly so that if the position is questioned in an assessment three years later, the basis for it is on file rather than in somebody’s memory.
Structure and set-up
- Choice of entity for a new business, and the reasoning behind it
- Restructuring an existing business, and what the change itself costs
- How owners draw money out — salary, interest, share of profit, dividend
- Holding of property and investments, personally or through an entity
- Family arrangements, succession and the passing of assets
- Bringing in a partner, an investor or a family member
- Conversion between forms of entity, and its tax consequences
Transactions and decisions
- Tax review of a transaction before it is executed
- Sale or purchase of a business, an undertaking or an asset
- Deduction at source arising from the payment terms proposed
- GST treatment — classification, place of supply and who bears the tax
- Transactions between related parties and connected persons
- Capital expenditure decisions, and the deductions and depreciation available
- Timing — what changes if a transaction falls in one year rather than the next
- Review of an agreement drafted elsewhere, for what it triggers
Review, exposure and second opinions
- Compliance health check across income tax, GST and payroll
- Quantification of exposure on positions already taken
- Advice on a notice received, before a reply is drafted
- Voluntary correction of an earlier position, and what it costs to correct
- Second opinion on advice received elsewhere
- Written opinions on a specific question, with the reasoning set out
- Identifying where a matter needs a lawyer, a valuer or another specialist
When this applies
Situations this covers
You are about to sign something
A price, a payment schedule and a description of what is being supplied together decide the deduction at source and the GST treatment. All three are easier to adjust before signature than after.
The business has outgrown the form it started in
Converting or restructuring has its own cost, and the question is whether the ongoing saving justifies it. That is an arithmetic question, and it should be answered with the arithmetic.
Money is moving within the family
Gifts, loans, property transfers and succession arrangements are all respected or disregarded on their documentation and their substance, and the two have to agree.
You have been offered a structure that sounds too good
If the only reason for an arrangement is the tax it saves, that is the reason it will be disregarded. A second opinion before entering into it costs a fraction of contesting it later.
You suspect an earlier position was wrong
Correcting voluntarily is almost always cheaper than being found. The first step is quantifying the exposure, so the decision is made on a number rather than on anxiety.
A notice has arrived and you want a view before replying
What the reply concedes is as important as what it argues. A short advisory engagement before drafting often changes the shape of the whole matter.
Method
How the work runs
- 01
Understand the commercial objective first
What you are trying to achieve, by when, and with whom. A structure that is tax-efficient and commercially unworkable is not advice, and the objective has to come before the arrangement.
- 02
Establish the facts that matter
Who the parties are, what is owned by whom, what has already been done and documented. Advice given on assumed facts is worth nothing when the facts turn out differently.
- 03
Set out the options, with their consequences
Usually more than one route is available. Each is set out with its tax effect, its compliance load, its cost of implementation and its risk of being questioned.
- 04
Say plainly where the line is
Where an option is aggressive, that is stated as part of the advice rather than left for you to discover. Where it is outside what can be supported, it is not offered at all.
- 05
Put it in writing
The recommendation, the provision relied on and the reasoning are recorded, so the position can be explained years later by reference to the file rather than to recollection.
- 06
Follow it into implementation
Advice that stops at the recommendation often fails in execution. Documents, entries, filings and the treatment in the return are carried through so that what was advised is what actually happens.
Questions
Commonly asked
General information on procedure. It is not advice on any particular matter.
Where is the line between tax planning and tax avoidance?
Planning uses what the law provides — a deduction it grants, an exemption it allows, an election it offers, a form of entity it recognises — and the transaction has a commercial purpose of its own. Avoidance is an arrangement whose main purpose is the tax benefit and which lacks commercial substance, and the general anti-avoidance provisions allow such an arrangement to be disregarded and taxed as though it had not happened. The practical test is simple to state: if you would still do it were the tax treatment neutral, it is planning. If you would not, be careful. Advice here stays on the planning side, and where a proposal does not, you will be told so.
Can you give an opinion in writing?
Yes, and for anything of consequence that is how it is given. A written opinion sets out the facts it is based on, the provision relied on, the conclusion and its limitations. The facts matter as much as the conclusion — an opinion given on one set of facts does not protect a transaction executed on another, which is why the facts are recorded on the face of it.
Will you tell me what I want to hear?
No, and an adviser who does is of no use to you. Where the answer is that a proposal does not work, that a position already taken is weak, or that the right course is to pay and move on, that is what you will be told. The value of advice lies entirely in it being reliable, and a favourable opinion that does not survive an assessment costs far more than an unfavourable one given early.
We already have an adviser. Can we come to you for one question?
Yes. A second opinion on a specific question is a defined piece of work with a defined scope, and it does not require changing advisers or disturbing an existing relationship. Professional courtesies as between members are observed. It is a common and sensible thing to do before a large or irreversible decision.
Can you tell me how much tax I will save?
Where the position is a computation — a deduction available or not, one entity form against another — the difference can be quantified and will be. Where it depends on how a provision is applied to particular facts, an honest answer describes the range and the risk rather than a single figure. What is never offered is a guaranteed saving: that would depend on the assessing officer agreeing, and no professional can promise that.
What does it cost?
Professional fees depend on the nature of the question, the work needed to establish the facts, and whether a written opinion or implementation support is required. Scope and the basis of fees are agreed in writing before work begins. Fee rates are not published here.
Is there a decision coming up?
Most tax outcomes are fixed by how a transaction is structured and documented, not by how the return is filed. That makes the useful conversation the one before it happens.
Related services
- Income TaxTax planning, advisory and return filing for individuals, firms and companies.
- GSTRegistration, periodic returns, annual return and reconciliation, and ongoing GST compliance.
- Deeds & AgreementsDrafting and review of partnership deeds, agreements and business documentation.
- Business Registration & ROCFormation of proprietorships, partnership firms, LLPs and companies, the registrations that follow, and ongoing Registrar of Companies compliance.