We are Shoeaholics, a trading name of Kurt Geiger Ltd, a company registered in England and Wales at Companies House. Our registered office is 24 Britton Street, London, EC1M 5UA, United Kingdom and our registered number is 968046. Our VAT number is 649691680.
This document sets out the Kurt Geiger Group Tax Strategy for the financial period ending 3 February 2024 and applies to all UK entities in the Kurt Geiger group of companies. It was published on 16 October 2024 in accordance with UK legislation set out in Paragraph 16(2) of Schedule 19 of to the Finance Act 2016.
GOVERNANCE AND COMMITMENT TO COMPLIANCE
Kurt Geiger is committed to paying the right amount of tax at the right time in accordance with laws, regulations and its overall strategic objective of being a responsible retailer in the UK.
This Tax Strategy is approved, owned and overseen by the Board of Directors and on a day to day basis is implemented and managed by an appropriately qualified team that proactively evaluate and monitor the business tax environment.
Almost all business operations and systems are overseen by the Chief Financial Officer, who is both the board member with executive responsibility for tax matters and our appointed Senior Accounting Officer.
Through his direct reports and team there is constant communication and periodic reviews to ensure tax compliance across business wide activities.
To meet our commitments we seek to employ appropriately qualified professionals and ensure that appropriate training is provided for employees involved in tax processes. We also actively engage with the most reputable professional service advisers in the UK to ensure our compliance, planning, processes and risk management are of a high standard
APPROACH TO TAX PLANNING
We aim to engage in efficient tax planning that reflects our commercial and economic activity and is aligned to our overall business strategy and internal business ethics policy.
We consider our tax strategy to be conservative and low risk but will take advantage of available tax incentives and reliefs to obtain tax efficiencies where these are aligned with these objectives and permissible within the framework of current legislation.
We actively engage our external advisers in our tax planning with regular meetings and ongoing contact to ensure that they are aware of not only operational changes within the business, but also our strategy for growth and expansion over the coming years.
ATTITUDE TO TAX RISKS
We take a proactive approach to tax risk, engaging professional services advisers to help us identify, understand and manage tax risk to ensure that the key risk areas are monitored and material risks minimised.
The Board have instituted an ongoing review of our systems and processes. The findings of this review have been backed by investment to ensure that, as the business continues to expand, our compliance and governance is aligned to our business growth plans.
For any new business expansion plans, non-routine material transactions or where there is significant complexity in relation to risk, and there is insufficient expertise to advise on the matter within the company, external professional advice is sought for both UK and International related tax matters to ensure any material tax consequences have been considered.
APPROACH TO WORKING WITH HMRC
We are committed to engaging with HMRC with openness, honesty and transparency about the business matters of our company and its tax related issues.
Since becoming a large group, we have maintained periodic communication with our key contacts at HMRC. On complex tax matters outside our area of expertise, we will often use external providers to assist and represent the business to ensure effective resolution.