The Man with a Plan
For anyone who knows me, you’ll know that I like to have a plan. I like to know where I am going and how I am going to get there. This is particularly true when I have my business owner hat on.
One of the ways I do this is by completing a tax diagnostic review on myself and the business. It’s an enhanced tax consultancy service that identifies all the tax advice areas relevant for myself and the business, taking into account where I am now, and where I want to be. At the end of the service, I have a plan of prioritised actions and feel good knowing I’m in control, doing everything I can.
The Value Extraction Diagnostic Review
I wanted to share with you my experience of completing the Value Extraction Tax Diagnostic Review for myself and Cloud 360. The review focused on the different ways for me to tax efficiently put things through the business or take value out of the business to benefit myself as the business owner.
The review identified lots of areas to consider, but I’ve selected 3 areas that are really important to me. These are:
- Pension Planning: To the future!
- Tax efficient company loans: We’re all leaders
- Incentivising the team: It’s been a tough year…
Pension Planning: To the Future!
Planning for retirement has always been important to me. Paying money from the company, to myself that’s tax free….. and I get a corporation tax deduction for the contribution. It’s a bit of a no brainer plan really! And I know I do want to start investing more – I specifically know I want to explore investing in commercial property via my pension for example.
But as ever, the man with the plan, I started looking into pension contributions by mapping out what type of lifestyle I want to live, if I chose to retire long into the future, and not just work less. After some number crunching, I arrived at a number that worked for me. Taking that number, I’ve been able to work back and I now have complete clarity over what I want the business to achieve, so that my family and I can live the lifestyle we dream to have in the future.
Company share option plans: We’re all leaders
As a business owner, I’m really proud of the team I have in place now, and I have big plans (no surprise there!) for the future that involve them. At Cloud 360, we’re going to be focusing on rolling out several higher value services for our clients, and I want the team 100% with me driving these foundation areas of the business forward.
As it stands, I’m not quite ready to implement something like a company share option plan yet, but I do want to start planning for this, so I’ve set the wheels in motion and obtained an advisory report for the most suitable plan for me and the business.
Taking this step means I’ll have a full understanding of exactly how it will work and I can plan carefully how to introduce them into the business, positioning it properly when the time is right to take this forward with certain team members.
As you can probably tell, I’m a real fan of these schemes. Selected employees can benefit tax efficiently from our growth, whilst the business is protected from risk, if for some reason we don’t perform as expected.
It’s win, win.
Incentivising the team: It’s been a tough year
In the same vein as company share option plans, having benefits in place to incentivise my team is equally important to me. The process of recruiting and retaining good people is one of the most challenging (and rewarding) responsibilities as a business owner. Having a plan to make sure I am maximising all the employee benefits for the team is crucial.
This is more relevant than ever after this last 6+ months we have experienced as a business. Everyone in the business has worked incredibly hard under the most unique and difficult circumstances. We’ve all felt the many pressures, each and everyone one of us, so being able to give back to the team, makes me feel like I am doing what I can to make their lives easier.
And the future?
I’m proud to be able to say Cloud 360 is a growing business and over the next couple of years I’ll be looking to invest more into the business. With this investment will come…. a new plan! This plan will be different, considering the structure of the business. To help with this I’ll be completing the Growth Tax Diagnostic.
Plan ahead with a Tax Diagnostic Review
With a Tax Diagnostic Review, you’ll know all the tax advice areas relevant for you and your business – with a plan of prioritised actions ready to drive you forward.
Get control. Book a Tax Diagnostic Review with Cloud 360 Accounting now.