PAT SUTTON

Managing Partner O’Kelly Sutton

Pat Sutton notes that quite a bit of tax restructuring and succession planning work has been carried out to avail of tax reliefs, given lower private company share values and depressed property values. “Those company and business owners who have built up substantial cash piles, investment portfolios and property interests are not wasting this crisis to get their house in order, and neither should you,” Sutton adds.”

WAREHOUSING TAX DEBT There is a real concern among businesses about building up debt levels and not being able to meet repayment commitments later. Businesses need to work closely with their advisers to get the right advice from experienced professionals who can steer them in the right direction. We are working with many clients, helping them to reshape their business strategy and the new norm now is where we facilitate these strategy meetings on platforms such as Zoom. All of this is critical if companies are going to survive, prosper and meet their long-term commitments.

We say to our clients there’s nothing like a good crisis to sharpen the mind, and those who respond best will be the long-term winners. Progressive businesses have improved their financial reporting systems to get timely and accurate month-end data. To survive and engage with the authorities, all businesses must have real-time accurate and reliable data to make informed decisions.

WAGE SUBSIDIES There is massive uncertainty among employers here in Kildare,

Laois and Offaly whether they should be signing up to the new Employment Wage Subsidy Scheme for the next six months. Many are going to sign up and see how it goes. We see no reason why the turnover reduction limit should have been adjusted from 25% to 30%. It will mean many employers won’t qualify going forward, resulting in more staff layoffs.

BUDGET 2021 It is imperative for the country that employers continue to keep employees on their books, and re-employ those currently receiving the Pandemic

Unemployment Payment. One solution would be to have ‘zero taxes’ options on certain salary scales where businesses qualify for the EWSS, and offer ‘zero taxes plus employment grants packages’ to all businesses to take on and retain additional employees.

Local Enterprise Offices have been doing terrific work providing supports to SMEs throughout the country. These supports need to increase and to be expanded. From our experience the cost of providing these supports is repaid ten-fold. We’ve seen firsthand how clients have made real sustainable improvements to their business, based directly on the support they’ve received.

SELF-EMPLOYED TAX RELIEF Claiming losses is always a complex area, and this new Income Tax relief is no different. It’s critical then that this loss relief is correctly claimed. Our advice is to ensure you are tax compliant, as this is a condition of the claim, and most importantly, speak to your tax adviser who can assist you or make the claim for you.

CORPORATION TAX-LOSS RELIEF Revenue’s 19-page guide on this relief is probably outside the scope of anyone who isn’t familiar with making loss claims on Corporation Tax returns. In the short term, affected companies should ensure they are tax compliant and that they have filed a tax return for the preceding accounting period. Also, they should ensure the management accounts are up-to-date so that they can calculate the loss for the claim.

The company should also maintain — and have available for inspection upon request — any relevant documentation and records for the purposes of demonstrating that the losses have been computed in a reasonable manner, and to the best of the company’s knowledge and belief.

‘‘There’s nothing like a good crisis to sharpen the mind’