Johnathan Hunter
Principal Associate – Corporate Tax
"I am a commercially focused corporate lawyer with a particular expertise in relation to tax planning, restructuring and employee incentive arrangements”
I work within our corporate tax team which is part of the larger business services department here at Higgs.
I am a commercially focused corporate lawyer with a particular expertise in relation to tax planning, restructuring and employee incentive arrangements.
I work closely with a wide range of companies, directors and individuals running business of various sizes from owner managed businesses to large international groups. I also work closely alongside other professional advisers such as accountants and tax advisors to ensure a fully comprehensive service can be provided where required.
I prefer to use a practical and straightforward approach (free of ‘legal jargon’) and I believe this has been key in enabling me to maintain excellent long-term relationships. Not only do I believe it is important to provide a high standard of services but also to understand and appreciate that not everyone’s standards, demands and needs are the same.
Outside of my work at Higgs, I am a trustee and Director of Football at Cadbury Athletic Football Club, a registered charity with 20 teams, ranging from under 7’s, a first team which operates at step 7 of the football pyramid and an over 50’s walking football team. The football club play their matches on the grounds of the Cadbury’s factory (and no I don’t get free chocolate).
- Restructuring a large international group valued in excess of £50,000,000;
- Advising on the tax elements of corporate transactional work, such as acquisitions and disposals, which has included acting for multi-million pound technology and healthcare companies in transactions valued in excess of £100,000,000;
- Reconstructing the payment mechanism of certain aspects of the consideration payable to the shareholders upon a sale of the Company, saving them in excess of £100,000 in tax;
- Devising and effecting a restructure of a group which had operated two distinctly separate businesses in order that upon a sale, the shareholders were able to save up to 29.5% in tax;
- The restructure of existing groups of companies to ensure they could use the existing cash reserves for investment purposes, without prejudicing the existence of Business Property Relief;
- The implementation of complex ‘family investment companies’ for several high-net worth individuals;
- Successfully appealed to the first-tier tax tribunal to overturn HMRC’s initial rejection of a tax clearance application made in relation to the restructure of an existing group; and
- Working alongside a client’s existing advisors to restructure the existing share rights of the Company and implementing an EMI scheme, in order to incentivise key employees, without prejudicing existing tax planning that had already taken place.
More about me
Favourite film
Any Given Sunday
Most used app
X (formerly Twitter!)
Interests
Football (playing and watching), going to the gym and the occasional video game
Interesting fact
I have played and scored at Wembley stadium
Meet the team
Susheel Gupta
Partner and Head of Corporate Tax
Richard Ferguson
Legal Director – Corporate Tax
Sarah-Jane Goodswen
Associate - Corporate Tax
George Hinchmore
Senior Associate – Corporate Tax
Kia Starks
Trainee Solicitor - Corporate Tax