Wright, Johnston & Mackenzie LLP

Firm Overview:  

Wright, Johnston & Mackenzie LLP is a full-service Scottish law firm with an impressive client base throughout Scotland and the UK. With offices in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Inverness, Dunfermline and Dunblane, WJM works with clients from a variety of industries, and boasts wide-ranging sector knowledge across a range of specialist areas.

Main Areas of Practice:  

• Agricultural and rural
• Commercial contracts
• Commercial property
• Construction
• Corporate
• Employment
• Family business
• Family law
• Private client
• Renewable energy
• Tax
• Wealth planning

Private Client: 

WJM’s team of private client specialists advise on wills, trusts, tax issues, inheritance, assets and property.

Their expertise in guiding families through challenging times means they can help clients put in place plans to protect themselves, their family and their business. Whether it involves writing a will, financial and tax planning, dealing with the death or incapacity of a loved one or buying a new house, WJM’s team of solicitors combine a sensitive approach with legal expertise to help clients achieve their goals.

The private client team, led by Rosina Dolan, Rod MacLean and Roddy Harrison, provides the following services:

• Making a Will
• Powers of Attorney and Incapacity issues
• Using trusts
• Estate Planning and Asset Protection
• Inheritance Tax planning
• Administering Estates
• Personal tax matters and returns
• Buying, selling and letting residential property

Wealth Planning: 

WJM’s team acts on behalf of private individuals, businesses, trusts and charities to assist in the following areas:

Planning of wealth: To achieve a financial return in investment in line with clients’ objectives to provide income, capital growth or a mixture of capital growth and income.

Protection of wealth - To shelter clients’ wealth from tax liabilities and other risks by using tax-efficient structures and other legal routes such as Trusts.

Passing on of wealth - To help plan for wealth to pass on to the next generation or chosen beneficiaries.

Estate Planning and Asset Protection 

Whether minimising the amount of Inheritance Tax due on an estate to enable more to be passed on to family members, or protecting young or vulnerable members of the family, WJM’s team works with individuals to ensure their estate is handled effectively, minimising the potential for tensions or disagreements to arise where family relationships are complex.

Estate planning can also involve establishing a clear path for continuing a business which has been built from scratch or which has been in a family for multiple generations. Working closely with their dedicated Family Business team, WJM’s private client solicitors are well placed to understand the challenges of managing the transition of a business when colleagues and employees are also relatives.

Inheritance Tax Planning: 

Inheritance Tax is one area where careful advance planning can greatly reduce the bill families are faced with following the death of a loved one.

Advising on a range of mitigation strategies, from reducing estates to making gifts, WJM’s team can ensure clients take full advantage of the reliefs and exemptions available to them.

Establishing regular gifting patterns, making charitable donations, establishing trusts and accessing Agricultural Property Relief, Woodlands Relief and Business Property Relief can all be helpful planning tools.

Part of Inheritance Tax planning may include ensuring your Will directs assets in a tax efficient way, and if paying some Inheritance Tax is inevitable, that there are funds available to pay it.

Multi-generational planning can help minimise the risk of a family’s wealth being depleted by additional Inheritance Tax charges as it passes down to each generation.

Personal Tax: 

WJM works with a diverse range of clients including privately wealthy individuals, high-earning executives, entrepreneurs, equity partners, family business owners, overseas nationals, trustees, executors and family offices, to provide guidance on Income Tax, Capital Gains Tax and Inheritance Tax.

Personal tax services include:

• Preparation of self assessment SA100 returns or repayment claim forms R40
• Advice on tax payments, PAYE coding notices and NIC contributions
• Assistance with prior year revisions and overpayment claims where necessary
• Assistance with tax investigations (full or aspect enquiries)
• Self assessment returns for trustees, preparation of certificate R185s for beneficiaries and advice on taxation of trusts;
• Preparation of forms P11D, Forms 42, CT61, non resident landlord schemes, PSAs.
• Accounts for rental or other small businesses.
• All HMRC elections for example PPR elections, CGT Holdover claims etc.