Farming and Rural Business

Moore and Smalley are proud to act for and advise over several hundred farming and rural business clients who operate throughout Lancashire and Cumbria. We are informed and have extensive knowledge of the unique issues which face many of our rural clients. Through a specialist and dedicated team of individuals, who themselves are from agricultural backgrounds, we aim to provide clients with a proactive service and ensure that they are realising their full business potential whilst minimising their tax liabilities.

Our farming clients range from family farms to large commercial enterprises which operate in the both the livestock and arable sectors. Additionally we act for a significant number of rural related businesses which operate alongside agriculture focusing on adding value to primary produce, property investments, leisure and tourism.

We are pleased to be members of the ICAEW Specialist Interest Group for Rural Business, the CharterGroup for Agriculture and the National Farmers’ Union. In addition, we regularly work with other professionals within the sector to meet our clients’ needs and objectives.

Services

We offer a comprehensive range of core services to our clients such as accounts preparation, payroll and taxation and in particular we are able to offer specialist advice in the following areas:-

Business structures and finance
Property transactions
Succession planning
Inheritance tax and trusts
Diversification and VAT
Financial planning including pension and investment advice.
Benchmarking

Rural Life

Rural Life is the Moore and Smalley specialist newsletter for Farming and Rural Businesses in the Northwest.

In this issue Ian MacGregor looks at the advantages and disadvantages of incorporating a farming business and James Cornthwaite provides information on new grants available from the Northwest Livestock Programme. We also offer tips on pensions and investments and how to avoid those unwelcome VAT bills.

Our Specialist Farming and Rural Business Team

Preston Office: Liz Cliffe, David Bennett, James Treadwell and James Cornthwaite

Lancaster Office: Les Hewitt

Kendal Office: Judith Smith, Rodger Hill and Ian MacGregor

For a no obligation consultation, please contact Danny Houghton at or call on 01772 821021

Useful Links

The Engineers' Employment Federation - the organisation for manufacturing, engineering and technology-based businesses.
The Department of Communities & Local Government - the government department covering building regulations, planning and local government.

Bottomline Newsletter

Bottom Line Winter 2009
In this issue of Bottom Line Graham Gordon looks at pension alternatives for high earners, James Treadwell provides an update on the new Companies Act rules and Stephen Adams discusses the new VAT rates. The Moore and Smalley debate brought together regional businesses, banks and solicitors who discuss whether 2010 will be the year of recovery, and we speak to Eliot Ward the new Chief Executive of Preston Vision