Personal Tax Advice for Individuals and Business Owners Across Yorkshire

Personal Tax That Connects to the Bigger Picture

Personal tax is rarely straightforward for business owners, directors, landlords and individuals with complex financial affairs. Self-assessment is the starting point, not the finish line. The real value of personal tax advice lies in what happens around the return — planning the most tax-efficient way to draw income, managing gains before they crystallise, planning ahead for IHT, and ensuring that everything reported to HMRC is correct and complete.

WDS provides personal tax advice and compliance services for individuals across Yorkshire. Our tax team works alongside your Client Manager, which means your personal tax position connects to your business finances, your investments and your wider plans — rather than being dealt with in isolation.

We manage the full self-assessment process on your behalf — gathering information, calculating the liability, filing the return and advising on payment — and we advise on the planning that happens throughout the year to ensure your personal tax position is as efficient as it can be.

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Personal Tax That Connects to the Bigger Picture

Struggling with self-assessment or personal tax planning?

Who We Work With

Our personal tax clients include a wide range of individuals with complex tax affairs. We work regularly with:

Company directors and owner-managers — where personal and business tax are closely connected. Directors typically need self-assessment returns covering salary, dividends, benefits in kind and any investment income
Self-employed individuals and sole traders — managing their own tax compliance, national insurance, payments on account and, from April 2026, MTD ITSA quarterly reporting
Landlords and property investors — with rental income to report, property gains to manage, and MTD ITSA obligations where income is above the qualifying threshold
Individuals with investment income — including dividends, savings interest, share sales and other investment returns that fall outside PAYE and need to be reported
High earners affected by the High Income Child Benefit Charge — where child benefit is clawed back through the tax return where income exceeds the relevant threshold
Individuals with pension-related tax issues — including pension annual allowance charges, lifetime allowance considerations and tax relief on contributions
Non-domiciled individuals or those with overseas income — where the interaction of UK tax rules and international income or assets creates complexity
Trustees — who are required to complete trust tax returns, maintain the Trust Registration Service entry and deal with IHT reporting requirements

Why Individuals Come to Us for Personal Tax

Common triggers that bring personal tax clients to WDS include:

A director or business owner who has been self-completing their self-assessment return and wants a professional to take it over and ensure nothing is missed
An individual who has received a letter from HMRC asking why they have not submitted a self-assessment return, or querying a return already submitted
A landlord whose rental income has grown significantly and who wants to ensure the tax is being managed correctly — particularly ahead of MTD ITSA obligations
A director who has received a large dividend and is not sure how it interacts with their personal income tax position
An individual who has sold an asset — property, shares, a business — and needs to report the gain and manage the tax due
Someone who has become a trustee and needs to understand their tax compliance obligations
A high earner who needs to review their pension contributions in light of the annual allowance
An individual who has inherited a property or estate and needs to understand the tax implications

The earlier in the tax year we are involved, the more planning options are available.

Our Personal Tax Services

Self-Assessment Tax Returns

We prepare and file self-assessment tax returns (SA100 and supplementary pages) for individuals with complex tax affairs. This includes gathering all relevant income information, calculating the tax liability, identifying all available reliefs and allowances, filing the return by the relevant deadline and advising on payment.

We manage the whole process so you do not have to gather documents, navigate HMRC’s online system or worry about whether you have missed anything. Where there are planning opportunities — for example, around pension contributions, gift aid or timing of income — we advise on these before the return is filed, not after.

Contact the tax team

Property Tax Advice

For landlords and property investors, we advise on all aspects of property tax, including: rental income reporting on self-assessment; the restriction of mortgage interest relief to the basic rate tax credit for residential landlords; the interaction of property income with other income sources; and capital gains tax on property disposals, including the 60-day CGT reporting rule that applies to residential property sales.

For buy-to-let portfolio landlords in particular, the combination of rental income, mortgage interest changes and MTD ITSA obligations means that getting proper tax advice is increasingly important. We also advise on the tax implications of furnished holiday lets, which have their own specific tax treatment.

Capital Gains Tax page

Making Tax Digital for Income Tax (MTD ITSA)

MTD ITSA is now live for self-employed individuals and landlords above the qualifying income threshold, requiring digital record-keeping and quarterly updates to HMRC in addition to the annual return. The qualifying threshold will extend to a lower income level from April 2027.

We help clients transition to MTD ITSA properly — choosing the right digital record-keeping software, setting up the quarterly reporting process, preparing and submitting quarterly updates, and ensuring the annual finalisation is completed correctly. For clients using cloud accounting software, MTD ITSA submissions can be integrated with their existing accounting records.

Cloud accounting support

Tax Planning for Directors and High Earners

For company directors, self-assessment is just the reporting mechanism. The more valuable work is the planning that happens throughout the year — structuring salary and dividends to minimise the combined personal and corporate tax position, reviewing pension contributions in light of the corporation tax deduction and personal annual allowance, and managing the interaction of personal and business tax.

For higher earners, we also advise on the high-income child benefit charge, the personal allowance taper for those with income above a certain level, and pension annual allowance considerations. These are areas where the tax cost of not planning can be significant.

Talk to our tax team

Why Choose WDS for Personal Tax

Connected to your business tax — for directors and business owners, your personal and business tax positions are connected. WDS manages both, which means your self-assessment return reflects your business finances correctly and planning decisions take account of both
MTD ITSA ready — MTD for Income Tax is now live and we are helping clients across Yorkshire transition. If you are affected and not yet set up, we can move quickly
Property tax expertise — for landlords with rental portfolios, we handle the full range of property tax compliance including the 60-day CGT return, MTD ITSA quarterly reporting and annual self-assessment
Trust tax specialists — trust taxation is a specialist area. We provide the full compliance service for trustees, including TRS maintenance, income tax, CGT and IHT reporting
HMRC enquiry support — we represent clients in HMRC enquiries and compliance checks. You do not have to deal with HMRC directly
Yorkshire based — we work with individuals across Yorkshire from our six offices in Bradford, Elland, Huddersfield, Leyburn, Northallerton and York

Expert Guidance

Benefit from the expertise of our qualified tax advisors who stay up-to-date with the latest UK tax laws and regulations.

Tax Savings

Our strategic tax planning services aim to minimise your tax liabilities, ensuring you only pay what is legally required while maximising available tax reliefs and allowances.

Peace of Mind

With our team handling your personal tax affairs, you can have peace of mind knowing that your taxes are managed accurately and efficiently.

Tailored Solutions

We understand that every individual’s tax situation is unique. Our personalised approach ensures that our services are tailored to meet your specific needs and objectives.

Timely Compliance

We help ensure timely compliance with tax filing deadlines, avoiding penalties and interest charges imposed by HMRC.

Holistic Financial Planning

Our tax advisory services are integrated with broader financial planning strategies, helping you achieve your long-term financial goals while minimising tax implications.

How does the mortgage interest restriction affect landlords?

Since April 2020, individual residential landlords have been unable to deduct mortgage interest in full from rental income when calculating their taxable profit. Instead, relief is restricted to a basic rate tax credit on the finance costs. For higher and additional rate taxpayers, this typically increases the tax due on rental income significantly compared to the old rules. We advise landlords on the impact of the restriction and any planning options available.

What is a payment on account?

Payments on account are advance payments of your next year’s income tax bill, collected by HMRC through self-assessment. Each payment is half of your previous year’s tax liability, paid in January and July. If your circumstances change and your actual liability will be lower than expected, you can apply to reduce your payments on account. If you do not reduce them and your actual tax is lower, the excess is refunded or carried forward. We manage payments on account as part of our self-assessment service.

What is Making Tax Digital for Income Tax and am I affected?

MTD ITSA requires self-employed individuals and landlords above the qualifying income threshold to keep digital financial records and submit quarterly updates to HMRC, in addition to their annual return. MTD ITSA is now live for those above the current threshold, with a lower threshold applying from April 2027. For current thresholds visit gov.uk/making-tax-digital-for-income-tax. If you are affected and have not yet set up quarterly reporting, contact us now — the first quarterly deadline is 7 August 2026.

Do I need to complete a self-assessment tax return?

You are required to file a self-assessment tax return if you are self-employed, a company director, have income from property, have income or gains above certain thresholds not taxed at source, have claimed child benefit and your income exceeds the relevant threshold, or have other taxable income not covered by PAYE. If you are unsure whether you need to file, we can confirm your position quickly. Failing to file when required carries automatic penalties.

How Can I Get Started with Your Personal Tax Advisory Services?

To get started, simply contact our team to schedule a consultation. We’ll assess your personal tax needs, provide guidance on your tax obligations, and tailor a solution to meet your requirements.