Independent Financial Advisers (IFAs) aren't just for individuals. Businesses can also benefit from working with an IFA to maximise tax efficiency and ensure that the directors are taking the right approach for them personally, for the business and for its employees.

We often work alongside accountants, solicitors and other professionals to ensure open communication across all parties, with the directors' consent.

There are a few key areas outlined below that every company can benefit from reviewing.

  • Directors' pensions
  • Employee benefits
  • Investment planning
  • Protection in case of death or illness

Director Pensions

As a business owner, you are responsible for your own retirement provision and you cannot always rely on "my business is my pension". With careful tax planning, saving into a pension for a company director can be a tax efficient method of extracting surplus profits from your company.

Investment Planning

Whilst it remains a sensible idea for a business to maintain sufficient accessible working capital, you may wish to explore options to ensure that surplus retained profits are working for the business with the aim of longer term gains.

Employee benefits

Many employers offer benefits to employees to reward existing staff and attract new staff. We can provide advice on and implement different types of group schemes:

  • Group Life Insurance, often referred to as death in service benefits
  • Group Critical Illness Benefit, enabling a lump sum to be paid to an employee should they be diagnosed with an illness
  • Group Income Protection, enabling an income to be paid for an extended period of time should an employee be unable to work due to an accident or ill health
  • Group Private Medical Insurance
  • Workplace Pension Schemes in line with automatic enrolment legislation which requires employers to offer and contribute to a pension on behalf of their employees

Protection Planning

An underestimated risk to any business is ill health or death of its key staff members, such as shareholders or key persons involved in running the business. You can arrange protection policies for the benefit of the company to enable the business to continue and to help with recruitment costs of replacing that member of staff to reduce business risk.

It is also essential for business owners to have sufficient protection in place in the event of a death of a shareholder to ensure that shares can be purchased from the deceased’s estate, should a shareholder die. This will allow the remaining business owners to continue running the business without new shareholders who have not been involved, or do not want to be involved, in the business and ensures that the deceased’s family receives the value of the shares.

Should you wish to discuss any of the above matters or arrange a financial review of your own business, our financial advisers have specialist business financial planning qualifications.

The value of an investment can go down as well as up. Capital is at risk.

The Financial Conduct Authority does not regulate taxation and trust advice, and will writing.

Your home or property may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments on your mortgage.

Accessing pension benefits early may impact on levels of retirement income and your entitlement to certain means tested benefits.

Accessing pension benefits is not suitable for everyone. You should seek advice to understand your options at retirement.