Family Investment Companies (FICS)

In this section

Increasingly, in recent years, high net worth individuals and wealthy families have turned to Family Investment Companies (FICs) as a useful way of managing succession and tax planning.

What is an FIC and how can it help me?

Family Investment Companies are often set up by wealthy individuals usually for the benefit of their children, grandchildren and wider family including themselves. Typically they are used to invest in stocks, shares and property.

They are commonly used to assist with Inheritance Tax (IHT) planning, allowing the founder to retain control over the assets, whilst removing value from their estate for IHT purposes. They have become a popular alternative to trusts, especially for entrepreneurial clients who will have been more familiar with the company structure.

With corporate rates of tax on investment income typically much lower than individual rates of income tax, there are further advantages to be made especially where investment income is continually reinvested to achieve growth.

How can we help

Our specialist team can advise right through from inception to implementation and the management and running of Family Investment Companies.

We will work with you to identify the appropriate company structure, considering who in the family makes decisions, how the company is funded and make sure investment strategy is considered, whilst retaining maximum flexibility to ensure that medium and longer term family goals are met.

Our bespoke service allows us to help assist families in all shapes and sizes. We ensure that tax planning needs are considered at different ages and stages of life in a family unit.

Our business tax advisory team can also advise on:

We are also happy to talk to you about and advise on the following key areas, among others, where tax necessarily forms an important part of the decision-making process: