Most expensive tax mistakes aren't evasion — they're decisions taken without advice: the property sold in the wrong tax year, the disclosure left too late, the residence question answered by guesswork. Connaught Law's tax advisory team gives individuals, landlords and business owners clear legal answers before the decision, and robust representation after HMRC's letter.
· Regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority · Legal 500 · Lexcel
How We Can Help
Personal Tax Planning
Income tax, capital gains and the timing decisions that move both: taking gains across tax years, structuring ownership between spouses, share sales and employment-related securities, and the interaction of reliefs that HMRC's guidance describes but doesn't optimise. Good personal tax advice is mostly good timing — which means taking it before the transaction, not after.
Property & Landlord Tax
Property carries its own tax stack — SDLT and its surcharges on the way in, CGT and reporting deadlines on the way out, income tax and interest-relief rules in between, incorporation questions for growing portfolios, and Making Tax Digital's expanding reach for landlords. Advised alongside our real estate team and its stamp duty calculator, the tax is planned with the transaction rather than after it.
Residence & International
Cross-border lives raise the questions guesswork gets wrong: the statutory residence test day-counts, double tax treaties, overseas income and gains — and the new residence-based regime that has replaced the old non-dom remittance basis, changing the planning for internationally mobile people arriving in or leaving the UK. For substantial international wealth, our private client tax service takes this further.
Disclosures & Coming Forward
Undeclared income, offshore accounts, a filing position that hasn't been right for years — the law rewards coming forward and punishes being found: voluntary disclosure through HMRC's facilities materially reduces penalties and, handled properly, closes the past cleanly. We advise on which route fits, prepare the disclosure and negotiate the settlement, with legal privilege protecting the advice along the way.
HMRC Enquiries
An enquiry letter is not an accusation, but it is a process that punishes casual answers. We manage personal and small-business enquiries end to end: scoping what HMRC is entitled to, responding precisely, challenging assessments that overreach, and appealing to the tribunal where HMRC won't move. The goal is closure at the lowest defensible number — quickly, and without inviting next year's letter.
Trusts, Estates & Inheritance Tax
Passing wealth on is a tax event that planning transforms: lifetime gifts and the seven-year clock, the reliefs on businesses and homes, trusts where control and protection justify them, and estates administered so the IHT position is right first time. We advise families and executors — and where wealth or cross-border elements grow, the private client team continues the work.
How We Work
Most advisory work starts with one well-defined question — should I sell this year, how do I fix this, what does moving abroad change — and we answer it in writing, in plain English, with the reasoning shown. Where the answer needs implementing we implement it; where it needs your accountant we coordinate with them. And where HMRC is already involved, we take over the correspondence so every word sent is a considered one.
Why Connaught Law
01Advice before the eventTax outcomes are mostly timing and structure — we're at our best consulted before you act.
02Legal privilegeAdvice from solicitors carries protections accountancy advice doesn't — it matters most exactly when things are sensitive.
03Senior attention throughoutYour matter is handled by our experienced tax team directly — with property, family and litigation colleagues alongside.
04Plain-English answersWritten advice you can act on — the rule, the options, the recommendation — not a hedge in twelve paragraphs.
Fee structures are set out on our fees page — most advisory questions are scoped at a fixed fee before we start.
Frequently Asked Questions
When is it worth paying for tax advice?
Before any decision where the tax is large relative to the fee: selling a property or business, exercising options, moving countries, restructuring ownership, receiving an inheritance — and immediately upon any HMRC letter. One timing or structuring insight routinely repays the advice many times over; after the event, options shrink to damage control.
I have undeclared income — what should I do?
Come forward, on advice, before HMRC comes to you: voluntary disclosure substantially reduces penalties and closes years cleanly, while discovery — increasingly automatic through data-sharing — brings higher penalties and, in serious cases, worse. The conversation with us is privileged; the sensible first step is having it.
How does moving abroad affect my UK tax?
It turns on residence — decided by the statutory residence test's day-counts and ties, not by intentions — and on what you keep here: UK property and certain income stay taxable regardless, and the regime for internationally mobile people has recently changed materially. A departure or arrival planned in advance is worth real money; we map it before you move.
Do you replace my accountant?
No — we complement them. Accountants run returns and compliance; we handle the legal layer: structures, disclosures, disputes and the one-off questions with big consequences. Most of our advisory clients keep their accountant throughout, and the collaboration usually makes both advisers more useful.
Tax question with real money on it?
Ask it before you act. We'll give you the answer in writing, the options in plain English and the fee up front.
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