Blogs from Larking Gowen

The future for UK agriculture has been set out in the Agriculture Bill, which should pass into law later this spring. Michael Gove has referred to it as “The Fourth Agricultural Revolution” and has set out a timescale, at the end of which the UK will be farming without subsidies. 

The Government has passed legislation to extend the non-resident capital gains tax and non-resident corporate tax on gains net to all UK land and property, from 6 April 2019. 

If there are obvious potential buyers for your business for sale then by all means approach them. However, quite understandably, many selling a business are uncomfortable contacting buyers themselves and revealing their intentions to sell their business.

Since April 2017, employers with a pay bill of £3 million and over have been required to contribute 0.5% into their apprenticeship levy fund. Two years on, the uptake and spending of these apprenticeship levy funds has been far lower than expected, so much so that the Government is reducing the co-investment cost for small employers.

In my previous blogs I discussed CEO fraud and vishing as two types of scams which your legal practice could fall into the trap of. In this update I look at a further scheme that legal firms should be aware of.

Indeed, when marketing a business for sale, we will put our name in the NDA rather than our client’s name, and will not reveal the client’s name to the buyer until after the buyer has signed it.

Just because they are working for you doesn’t mean they’ve revealed their true financial circumstances. Perhaps they have inherited money, have significant equity in their homes, or have simply saved and invested wisely over the years.

HMRC have increased their investigations into inheritance tax.

Let’s face it, selling a business is often the most important deal a business owner will ever be involved with, so it’s vital to get the right support to achieve a successful outcome.

New rules on pricing transparency for solicitors have been published, and come into effect on 6 December 2018. The rules have been put in place following recommendations from the Competition and Markets Authority. Firms that fail to meet the requirements could face disciplinary action.