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Brexit Advisory
Our Brexit Advisory team offer insight and guidance surrounding impacts and opportunities that Brexit has created for organisations.
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Corporate Finance
We offer a dedicated team of experienced individuals with a focus on successfully executing transactions for corporates and financial institutions. We offer an integrated approach, with our corporate finance specialists working seamlessly with tax and other specialists to ensure that every angle is covered.
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Digital risk
Grant Thornton offers solutions to the digital risk issues you are sure to face. Our skilled and experienced security team can helping by advising and consulting, giving you peace of mind, clear value for money and an enhanced ability to react to attacks.
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Economic Advisory
Our all-island Economics Advisory team combines expertise in economics and business with a wealth of experience across the public and private sectors.
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eDiscovery
Grant Thornton are the leading provider of eDiscovery services in the country and have been for years. Our incident response team managed the electronic discovery in the largest eDiscovery in Irish history.
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Forensic Accounting
We have a different way of doing business by delivering real insight through a combination of technical rigour, commercial experience and intuitive judgment. We take pride in delivering responsive and tailored solutions to all our clients, capitalising on the wealth of experience housed within our Belfast and wider Forensics team
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People and Change Consulting
The Grant Thornton People & Change Consulting practice works with clients on these issues as well as on all aspects of how they attract, retain, engage develop, deploy and lead their people.
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Restructuring
We work with a wide variety of clients and stakeholders such as high street banks, private equity funds, directors, government agencies and creditors to implement solutions which provide the best possible outcomes.
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Corporate and International tax
Northern Ireland businesses face further challenges as they operate in the only part of the UK that has a land border with a country offering a lower tax rate.
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Employer solutions
Our team specialises in remuneration and incentive planning and works closely with employers, shareholders and employees to ensure that business strategies are aligned and goals achieved in the most tax efficient, cost-effective manner.
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Entrepreneur and private client taxes
Our team of experienced advisors are on hand to guide you through any decision or transaction ranging from the establishment of new business ventures, to realising value on exit, to succession planning and providing for loved ones.
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Global Mobility Services
Grant Thornton offer a different approach to managing global mobility. We have brought together specialists from our tax, global payroll, people and change and financial accounting teams across Ireland and Northern Ireland, while drawing on the knowledge and insights of our global network of over 143 offices of mobility professionals to provide you with a holistic approach to managing global mobility.
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Outsourced Payroll
Our outsourced service provides valued service to over 150 separate PAYE schemes. These ranging from 1 to 1000 employees, working for micro, SME and global employers. The service is supported by the integrated network of tax and global mobility teams and the wider Grant Thornton network delivering a seamless service. Experienced staff deliver a personal service built around your business needs.
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Tax Disputes and Investigations
Our Tax Disputes and Investigation team is made up of tax experts and former HMRC investigators who have years of experience in dealing with a variety of tax investigations. Our expertise and insight can guide you through all interactions, keeping your cost at a minimum while allowing you to continue with the day to day running of your business.
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VAT and Indirect taxes
At Grant Thornton (NI) LLP, our team helps Northern Ireland businesses manage their UK and global indirect tax risks which, as transactional taxes, can quickly become big liabilities.
The upcoming Chancellor's Budget on 3 March has the potential to be a bumper edition. Following a modest Budget last year, this will be the first major fiscal event after Brexit and since the initial onset of the coronavirus pandemic.
The economy is poised in a precarious position. While hope for a strong recovery has emerged through the development of Covid-19 vaccines, much of the economy remains paralysed by lockdown restrictions. The economic prospects for the year ahead depend on how fast the vaccine continues to roll out and how effectively that leads to lifting restrictions. With Q1 now expected to show a sharp contraction in activity, the economic outlook for 2021 is somewhat dampened. The Bank of England now expects growth of 5% in 2021, compared with 7.5% it was expecting in earlier assessments.
With so much of the economy unable to function, the Chancellor is faced with quite a list of options around the extent to which he keeps the Covid supports flowing, drives the economic recovery with targeted incentives or finds ways of raising revenue. Whichever direction he takes; it is set to be a momentous budget.
Even before the Chancellor takes his position on the floor of Parliament, there already a few key tax dates for businesses to be prepared for in 2021, including:
- Domestic reverse charge for the Construction industry begins on 1 March 2021;
- The broadening of IR35 rules to the private sector from 1 April 2021;
- The introduction of the VAT 'one-stop shop' in July 2021; and
- Full implementation of new border processes throughout the year.
As expected, this Budget will likely focus on recovery, with the following predictions widely speculated:
- Introduction of a ‘wealth tax’ which could materialise in the form of a 1% charge per annum, based on an individual’s assets;
- Introduction of the non-residents Stamp Duty Land Tax (‘SDLT’) from 1 April 2021, for which legislation has already been drafted a number of years ago;
- Introduce limits and increase scrutiny to prevent the abuse of Research and Development (R&D) tax relief for small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). This is likely to include limits to the amount of payable R&D tax credit on SME’s claiming over £20,000 in contrast to it total PAYE and NICs liability for the period.
- Reduction of the Capital Gains Tax annual tax-free threshold from £12,300 per person to as little as £2,000 per person and more restrictions on pension relief for higher rate taxpayers - see more here; and
- The potential increase to the current 19% corporation tax rate which had previously been intended to be reduced to 17% and also bringing more online businesses into the Digital Services Tax regime, which only impacts large organisations with worldwide revenues of £500 million or UK revenues of £25 million.
There may also be some Covid-19 packages that could be extended or re-introduced:
- Extension of the reduced hospitality and tourism VAT rate of 5% which is due to end on 31 March 2021, to assist the sector post-lockdown;
- Potential re-introduction of the Eat Out to Help Out scheme for the Summer months;
- Allowing the SDLT Nil rate bands to continue until the end of this year, instead of reverting to the previous rates in April 2021; and
- Crucially, the extension of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (‘CJRS’) to assist businesses to cope with the current lockdown restrictions to beyond 30 April 2021.