Your challenges
VAT has always been a headache for educational institutions, and following the changes to the taxation of charities in the Finance Act 2006 corporation tax has become an issue which no institution can ignore. You need lawyers who combine specialist knowledge of the tax issues with an instinctive understanding of the sector.
Achieving your ambitions
Whatever your tax requirements, we can help. We provided input to the British Universities Finance Directors’ Group in its negotiations with HM Revenue & Customs on the corporation tax treatment of universities. Therefore we understand how tax affects all aspects of your business, from spin-out companies and trading subsidiaries to research contracts and non-student lettings. On VAT we can help you to obtain the best results for your partial exemption recovery method and advise on maximising VAT recovery on construction projects.
The strength you need
We have a team of six tax specialists covering the full range of tax issues, including corporation tax, VAT employment taxes and SDLT. We act for more than 80 HEIs including several of the UK’s top universities and more than half the Cambridge colleges
Lawyers you can trust
According to Legal 500 the team is “acclaimed as team players”, and “the quality of the work here is always excellent”. Team leader Ted Powell, who has 30 years’ experience in higher education as an academic and lawyer, is praised for his “remarkable attention to detail”. His VAT planning for Newnham College Cambridge was upheld in a landmark case by the House of Lords and has been praised as the “Rolls Royce of schemes”.