Personal Injury

Simpson Burgess Nash deals with a large number of clients unfortunate enough to have been the victims of serious personal injury (at work, in road accidents, or as victims of violent crime) and clinical negligence, and who have received significant damages awards. Services offered include:

Tax return preparation

Whilst claimants’ awards are tax-exempt, income arising from investing the award is in general taxable, and thus typically as a claimant you will be required to complete a personal tax return in respect of investment income.

Trust accounts and tax returns

Many claimants will be advised to set up personal injury trusts to protect their entitlement to state benefits. We can prepare trust accounts and tax returns for you, and also negotiate with the taxman to minimise duplication in tax return completion.

Public Guardianship Office returns and accounts

If a claimant is under 18, or is unable to look after his or her own financial affairs (due for example to brain injury), the Court of Protection will appoint a Receiver to look after the claimant’s finances. The Receiver is required to complete a return and accounts for the Public Guardianship Office each year, and we can complete these on behalf of you as Receiver.

We are also aware of the forthcoming changes to the Mental Health Act and can advise you regarding Enduring Powers of Attorney and the new procedures for withdrawing money from Court Funds.

'Gratuitous care' rulings

Awards to claimants typically include a significant element to pay professional carers, but sadly there is a severe shortage of such carers. As a result family members are often obliged to give up work and provide care, for which they are eligible to receive payment out of the award. Many family carers are wrongly advised by the taxman that tax and national insurance are due on such payments. We can obtain a ruling from the taxman on your behalf as a family carer that tax and national insurance is not due on such payments.

VAT advice

There are various items that are eligible for zero-rating when supplied to disabled people. The main ones are certain building works to adapt property for wheelchair access and use, adapted motor vehicles and specialised computer equipment. We can advise you on the availability of zero-rating and how to certify eligibility for zero-rating to your supplier.

Inheritance tax planning

Awards are not exempt from inheritance tax, and thus large awards bring with them inheritance tax issues. We can advise on inheritance tax planning, although the scope for this is limited by the fact that the award is intended to be used to benefit the claimant during his or her lifetime.

Domicile

If your father was born outside the UK and you have, or could obtain, non-UK assets or income, you may well be able to establish yourself as domiciled outside the UK, with potentially significant tax benefits.

Our tax planning director Mark Simpson can advise whether you have a case for non-UK domicile, and we offer a no-win no-fee service to obtain a domicile ruling for you from the taxman.

Advice re: acquisition of foreign property

In recent years the Court of Protection has begun to sanction the purchase of foreign holiday homes for claimants in order to improve their quality of life. We can help you to deal with the process of acquiring such property, based on our experience of assisting other claimants in this area in the past.

In addition to the above services, we are also able to refer clients to other specialists in related professional areas, in connection with (for example) statutory wills and investment advice.

Please contact us for more information