Full turnout for Sussex breakfast seminar on tax saving
’Saving tax on land and property’ was a popular topic on thought provoking ideas from a team of professional speakers at a seminar, held at Cowdray Park Golf Club on Thursday 19 November. The seminar, chaired by Sussex Enterprise, was jointly hosted by Spofforths, a leading firm of Chartered Accountants in Sussex, Savills and Landmark Systems the business software specialists for the rural sector.
Clients were welcomed from across the South East by John Evans who works for Business link in Sussex supporting land based and rural businesses, he emphasised the importance of knowing how to read a balance sheet broken down to profit or loss for each enterprise in order to review and adapt the business. Speakers were invited to talk about the value of land and how to manage financial information as well as offer some practical planning ideas and tax tips with succession, recession and a general election in mind.
Chris Spofforth, who runs Savills Farm Agency business in the South East, gave a comprehensive review of the English land market. He remained bullish about the South East market mainly because activity over the summer in the region represented about 20% of the total acreage marketed in England. Demand remained strong with land in East and West Sussex currently in short supply.
Adrian Pearce, Spofforths agriculture specialist and both a Chartered Accountant and Tax Adviser, focused on cultivating capital tax savings and finished with ten tips emphasising that as a starting point if clients did nothing else they should make a Will and review it regularly. This was reinforced by the firm’s second speaker Philip Lansberry, Director of Spofforths private client division, who gave an overview of the importance and use of Wills and Trusts in overall financial planning.
Nigel Parsons, MD of Landmark Systems, combined his knowledge of agriculture and IT to review and to advise on the use of a good software system in the effective management of a rural business. He encouraged clients to effectively manage their financial information, to avoid duplication, to look at modern payment methods, and to provide advisers with the complete picture when looking to make tax savings on land and property.
One attendee, Clive Young who works for the estates division at HSBC, commented on the quality of the speakers and the content saying: "I was really impressed as they are all so knowledgeable and the topics covered in the seminar were wide-ranging. I handle estate insurance and found the points about tax planning and looking to the future most useful. It was clear that we should all take the time to think ahead and make sure we have an up to date Will."
