As we come to the end of the year, it feels like a good moment to pause and reflect on what has been a busy, collaborative and genuinely rewarding twelve months.

Throughout 2025, we have supported solicitors navigating an increasingly complex tax and legal landscape — particularly where property, private client work and tax intersect. From evolving SDLT risks and heightened HMRC scrutiny, to significant changes in inheritance tax, trusts and non-dom planning, the pace of change has shown no signs of slowing.

A consistent theme across the year has been the importance of clear, specialist advice in areas where technical complexity and professional risk are growing. Whether supporting individual transactions or longer-term planning, our focus has remained on helping solicitors protect their clients while managing their own regulatory and professional obligations.

This year, Amanda had the pleasure of working with 230 solicitors across 136 firms nationwide, and we are incredibly grateful for the trust placed in us to provide specialist tax support. We have been particularly pleased to work closely with a number of firms throughout the year, including Osbornes, Blake Morgan, Emin Read, Gardner Leader, Herrington Carmichael, Peacock & Co and Russell Cooke. Your continued collaboration has been hugely appreciated.

Across the year, much of our work has focused on supporting solicitors dealing with increasingly complex SDLT issues. We have advised on a wide range of transactions, including buy-to-let and mixed-use property, non-resident buyers, trusts, leases and probate purchases. As SDLT remains a self-assessed tax and an area of growing HMRC attention, we continue to see the importance of maintaining clear boundaries between conveyancing and tax advice, ensuring clients receive specialist input where required and firms are appropriately protected.

Alongside transactional advice, a growing part of our work this year has focused on strategic tax planning for portfolio landlords and property businesses. We have supported clients with structuring and restructuring property portfolios, including the use of general partnerships, Family Investment Companies and, where appropriate, the incorporation of established property businesses.

This work requires careful planning across income tax, capital gains tax, SDLT and inheritance tax, as well as a clear understanding of how reliefs operate in practice. In particular, we have advised on the availability and practical application of incorporation relief, including the importance of ensuring that any relief relied upon is properly claimed and clearly evidenced on the tax return. This is an area that will attract increasing scrutiny from HMRC from the 2026/27 tax return cycle onwards.

Importantly, our involvement does not stop at structuring. We also prepare ongoing accounts and tax returns for many of these property businesses, allowing us to take a genuinely holistic approach to tax planning. By aligning advice, implementation and compliance, we can ensure that strategies remain effective over time and stand up to HMRC challenge.

One of the real highlights of the year has been delivering training to firms up and down the country and meeting so many solicitors in person. Amanda has thoroughly enjoyed engaging with teams dealing with a wide range of transactions and hearing directly about the challenges solicitors face in practice. These conversations continue to shape both the advice we give and the focus of our training.

Looking ahead to the year to come, we are currently developing new residential SDLT training sessions. These sessions are not set in stone and will continue to evolve as legislation develops and in response to the areas solicitors tell us they find most challenging.

The training will include a particular focus on HMRC’s confirmation that conveyancers who submit SDLT returns will be required to register as tax advisers, following legislation introduced in the Finance Bill 2025/26, which is expected to come into effect in May. Alongside this, the sessions will cover practical updates, case studies and common residential SDLT risk areas to support compliance and risk management.

Finally, thank you again for your support throughout the year. Working closely with solicitors across the country has been one of the most rewarding aspects of 2025, and we are very grateful for the relationships built along the way. As always, Amanda is here to provide specialist tax support whenever needed, and we look forward to continuing to work with you in the year ahead.

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