As many business owners are aware it is possible to invest in commercial property using a pension fund. The benefits of such a plan have well been documented. However it is also possible to  purchase plant and machinery using asset finance via the pension fund. Whilst on the face of  it , it would appear pointless purchasing a depreciating asset in such a manner there are a number of major advantages  in doing so. Whilst XL Business Finance cannot provide specific advise we were recently involved in such a scenario. Read on!

A major plant hire customer needed some equipment for a new contract. Whilst there was nothing wrong with the credit worthiness of the business we all know that there are few high street funders offering decent rates. Get fully committed with these funders and the second tier can prove very expensive. Organising a loan via the pension fund provided some very very competitive funding indeed.

So what about the tax side of things. Whilst the equipment itself will depreciate over a period , the contract the kit was  being used for would generate a significant amount of income. This income would therefore be paid into the pension fund in a tax effeicient manner. The return on the initial investment was many many times greater than the initial investment and prooved to be some clever tax planning. Whilst this kind of scenario will not work for every business itr is an option that business owners should be aware. XL Business Finance cannot provide specific pension and tax advise however I think this illustrates the concept quite nicely.

Tags: Asset Finance

This entry was posted on Monday, November 8th, 2010 at 10:35 am and is filed under Asset Finance. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.