Tax

Teacher Stern has an established and well-regarded tax practice that advises on a comprehensive range of tax law issues including capital gains tax, corporation tax, income tax, inheritance tax, national insurance contributions, stamp duty land tax and value added tax. A significant part of our work is of an international nature.

On the commercial side, we regularly advise on the tax aspects of commercial real estate transactions where we have an acknowledged expertise in advising on VAT and SDLT related issues. We also advise on the tax elements of corporate activities such as mergers and acquisitions, group reorganisations, joint ventures, private equity investment structures and earn-outs.

For investors and investee companies, we advise on a broad range of tax matters including the establishment of tax efficient share option schemes and the availability of tax relief such as EIS and business asset disposal relief (previously called entrepreneurs’ relief).

We also draw on the expertise of experienced lawyers from our tax, employment and private client teams to advise clients on matters ranging from inheritance tax planning to employment tax (including IR35 and other employment issues).

In advising on tax matters, we always apply our technical expertise in a manner that allows us to provide clients with succinct, pragmatic and practical advice. We apply our technical expertise advice to help them navigate complex tax and ensure that their tax liabilities are no more than are required by law.

What We Do:

The areas covered by our Tax practice include:

Tax Investigations and Enquires

Corporate Tax

Our Tax team advises clients ranging from multi-nationals to financial institutions to start-ups on the tax aspects of corporate, commercial and corporate real estate transactions.

Our corporate tax lawyers advise UK and overseas clients on transactional and corporate taxes, including Corporation Tax, Value Added Tax (VAT) and Stamp Duty, in relation to all areas of business activity including mergers and acquisitions, group reorganisations, joint ventures and private equity/venture capital structures.

Real Estate Tax

Our tax team frequently advises real estate clients operating in a wide range of real estate sectors including hotels and leisure; retail; Restaurants and cafes; and shopping centres. We act for a wide variety of real estate clients including investors, property funds and property developers.

We also have significant experience in advising clients on real estate matters in other sectors such as financial services, social housing, data management, healthcare and the charitable sector.

We offer expert tax advice in respect of all taxes involved in real estate transactions, whether they are direct dealings in land, or transactions involving property-owning companies. Our advice covers VAT, SDLT, Capital allowances, Construction Industry Scheme, Non-resident Landlord registration and ATED.

Inheritance Tax

Teacher Stern’s private client team advises UK and non-UK domiciled individuals and their families on all aspects of inheritance tax planning.

The bespoke estate plans we prepare often employ the use of UK and/or international tax structures to assist UK and non-UK domiciled individuals and their families in managing and protecting their worldwide assets.

In addition, for clients who are non-UK domiciled, we often employ simple offshore planning and structuring techniques to ensure they benefit from the significant mitigation of UK inheritance tax liability.

Tax Investigations and Enquires

Our teams advise on the conduct of enquiries raised by HMRC in respect of a range of tax matters. We advise both individuals and corporate entities.

In the recent past this has included property tax matters (both in respect of SDLT and corporation/income taxes) and employment remuneration structures.

Representative Tax Work

Examples of our Tax work include:

Advised the shareholders of Galliard Healthcare on the tax implications relating to the sale of the company to FTSE listed UDG Group plc for a purchase price of £13m.
Advised the shareholders of a substantial hospitality chain on the tax implications arising on the disposal of a 33% interest in their business (enterprise value £90m) to a private equity investment fund.
Advised CHEP Aerospace Solutions (a division of, Australian listed, Brambles) on the tax aspects of its acquisition of Airworld Services and Airworld Containers for $15.7m.
Advised on the tax implications relating to the acquisition and disposal of various shopping centres across the UK; including the sale of two high value malls situated at London Underground stations for a combined value of £270m.
Advised a leading European bank on the tax implications of a debtor-backed restructuring of its UK real estate loan portfolio (which included enhanced debt/equity arrangements).
Advised a Luxembourg based fund on the tax aspects relating to the operation and establishment of a fund set up to buy £50 million worth of UK commercial real estate.