A capital allowances specialist does something an accountant generally does not: survey a property or a construction spend and price the qualifying elements inside it. The deliverable is a report allocating expenditure between plant, integral features and non-qualifying fabric, in enough detail to stand up if HMRC asks. It is a valuation exercise as much as a tax one.
What the work actually involves
For a purchase, establishing what the previous owner claimed, whether the pooling and fixed value requirements can be met, and what the fixtures are worth by reference to the price paid. For a construction or fit-out, taking the contractor's cost breakdown and the drawings and allocating each element. Both produce a schedule that the company's accountant then puts into the tax computation. The specialist does not usually file anything; they produce the numbers somebody else files.
When it is worth buying
Buying or building commercial premises is the clear case, because the unclaimed pool inside a property is often large and is otherwise lost. A significant refurbishment is the second. Ordinary equipment purchases are not: those are relieved in full by the annual investment allowance and need no survey. The rough test is whether there is a building involved and whether the spend is large enough that a percentage of it exceeds the fee, which is a question a firm will usually answer for nothing before quoting.
What they charge, on the evidence
Not one of the capital allowances firms whose own pages were read for this site publishes a fee. All three maintain a live page for the work and none of them prints a price, which puts this alongside the general practices rather than alongside the R&D specialists, three of whom do print one. Fees in this corner are commonly a share of the tax saving identified, sometimes contingent and sometimes capped at the first year's saving, but every one of those arrangements has to be asked for rather than read.
Questions people ask about capital allowances specialist
What does a capital allowances specialist do?
Surveys a property or construction spend and produces a report allocating the expenditure between plant, integral features and non-qualifying fabric, which the company's accountant then uses in the tax computation.
When should I use one?
When a building is involved and the spend is large: buying or constructing commercial premises, or a significant refurbishment. Ordinary equipment is relieved in full by the annual investment allowance and needs no survey.
What do capital allowances specialists charge?
None of the firms in this site's record publishes a fee. Fees are commonly a share of the tax saving identified rather than of the spend, and the arrangement has to be asked for.