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Corporate Finance and Deal Advisory
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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Technology Consulting
Motivating and assisting our clients to pursue, maintain and secure the benefits of digital solutions is at the core of our Digital Transformation teams' agenda and goals. We work with business leaders to deliver efficient digital strategies and operating models that provide new or enhanced capabilities.
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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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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.
How to pay for COVID-19?
04 Aug 2020The COVID-19 crisis continues to be at the forefront of everyone’s mind. Public health is the number one concern, and rightly so! Sometimes watching the news, it feels that there is very little of positive news on the horizon - whilst the Government is continuing to support business and individuals financially via a number of different schemes, the question on everyone’s mind will be how will we, the public, pay for the massive debt building in the government finances? What will this mean for future taxes? Will austerity return to a larger extent than following the 2008 downturn? Much will depend on how well the economy can bounce back and how long that might take to happen.
HMRC’s tax receipts over recent months have been significantly reduced - VAT, PAYE/NIC and Corporation Tax receipts have all fallen behind their normal levels. Some of the drop in tax receipts will inevitably be due to timing differences, where customers have been successfully able to agree time to pay arrangements. However, the general feeling is there will be a large amount of taxable receipts that will have permanently disappeared due to lower consumer spending, higher unemployment, increased business failures and a significant drop in the economy as a whole.
Common sense might dictate that, if taxes were to be raised in the immediate future that it could stifle any recovery, as consumer confidence would take a further nose-dive.
Rather than raising headline taxes in the short-term, we could see an increase in HMRCs tax take by way of certain ‘stealth-tax’ measures, such as the removal or alterations to certain tax reliefs.
Tax reliefs such as those that promote businesses and individuals becoming more environmentally-friendly are likely not to be affected.
Reliefs for succession planning, exit planning and inheritance tax planning may be altered. We have already seen a significant decrease to the ‘Entrepreneur’s Relief’ limit for Capital Gains Tax (‘CGT’) purposes in the Spring Budget earlier this year.
Speculation has already started surrounding the Government seeking to increase the current CGT rate of 20%, which is notably lower than our neighbours in Ireland (33%) and throughout the rest of Europe. However, action such as this could also cause a negative effect to tax take where, taxpayers could be more cautious around transactions and deals in this potential scenario.
Altering property taxes and taxes for the top earners/wealthy could have the least negative effect, but doing this in the short term could be disastrous, consumer spending and confidence levels could dip further and taxpayers could be more cautious than before when making investments which all have a negative effect on an already strained economy
Overall tax increases are most likely inevitable, however, the timing of any such changes could be up for debate. Government priorities over the next 12-18 months will also dictate how taxes may be affected.
Businesses should be capitalising on the downtime and using this time to revaluate their business, devise plans for the future, and plan how they can adapt their business to survive the road ahead.
Whilst the future of the current pandemic is uncertain for almost everyone and fears of further potential lockdowns will be weighing heavily on businesses mind, it is important that contingency plans are made now such that businesses are as resilient as possible in navigating their way through this crisis. Discussing those plans with your tax advisor may be crucial to ensuring that the tax position of your business or personal affairs is as efficient as possible. This will ensure that you and your company are best positioned to ‘pay for COVID-19’.
