Blogs from Larking Gowen

Land, of any sort, is difficult to value. As accountants, we often have to value assets of one sort or another, and there are various tools that we can use to do so. However, none of these tools is particularly helpful when we look at farmland.

Last week, Laurie Hill looked at how New Zealand farmers pushed through a period of harsh economic set-backs in the 1980s to become a world leader in agriculture exports. Now he discusses whether UK farming can learn any lessons from that New Zealand experience.

Laurie Hill discusses UK farming subsidies, and compares the tough economic pressures facing farmers in the UK to the difficulties faced by New Zealand farmers when they lost their subsidies in the 1980s. 

It was worrying to read recently that Lloyds Bank has discovered thousands of customers’ wills stored in its ‘safe custody’ service, which was closed to new customers in 2011. This situation is a good reminder to anyone making a will or who already has a will.  Read on for advice on avoiding the pitfalls.

Most landowners know exactly what the family owns, including the finer details of boundaries, tenancies and history. However, they may be less clear about exactly who owns which property and what’s on the business balance sheet. It’s not uncommon for someone to think they own land, when in fact it’s still held in the names of grandparents’ executors, or for them to think it’s owned jointly with a spouse when that’s not the case.

Our recent blogs have discussed the new SRA rules, to be implemented from 25 November. As the date is creeping ever closer, let’s consider them once again.

On Budget day, all eyes are typically focused on potential tax increases, the state of play of UK finances and whether there will be a rabbit pulled from the hat which shocks and surprises us all.

There’s a common misconception that your company has to be involved in rocket science to be eligible for Research and Development (R&D) tax credit.

The second round of the Countryside Productivity Small Grants Scheme, administered by the Rural Payments Agency (RPA), opened for applications on 9 July 2019. 

In a long running battle, the University of Cambridge has challenged the way HM Revenue & Customs’ recovers VAT on investment funds of donations and endowments.  The University claimed that they should be able to claim back a proportion of the VAT because the investment returns were used to support wider business activities.

New rules on pricing transparency for solicitors came into force on 6 December 2018. The rules require solicitors to publish their pricing and service information on their websites about certain legal services.