A DEDICATED property services team to deal with all aspects of accounting and taxation in property transactions has been created by North Yorkshire's largest accountancy firm.

The four-strong team has been established by Garbutt & Elliott, which has offices in York and Leeds, in response to requests from clients and other professionals including lawyers, commercial property agents and land agents.

Their expertise ranges across corporate finance, VAT, accounting and the taxation aspects of property transactions

One major issue being tackled by the team, is helping to find tax-efficient ways to re-use redundant or surplus agricultural buildings for the hard-pressed farming community which has seen earnings plummet to pre-war levels.

They will also advise on the ramifications of the introduction of capital gains tax taper relief, which is replacing retirement relief, and new rules on what qualifies for the more generous business asset taper relief.

Team co-ordinator, Jeremy Oliver, says: "This new team will enable us to offer a highly effective and efficient service to a range of investors and developers in this region. This type of approach is badly needed. We have been introduced to cases recently where we have discovered that a previous lack of appropriate tax planning has led to a possible loss of entitlement to business asset taper relief.

"Any business with a mixture of funding and investment assets should constantly review these to ensure that they are able to qualify for the more generous tax breaks available."