Whirls,
You'll never get rich thinking like that! Tax and VAT are another of life's little games to work out a strategy on.
RS: in my experience, accountants just charge you lots to tell you stuff you already know OR could find out yourself. Best to gen up first and tell your own accountant what you want them to do for you (I'm Herts too and I've not found one that really knows their onions).
VAT - look at Denmark, there are lots of options depending upon where your machine is coming from. I brought my BIII in from the USA with OPMAS.
Income tax/company ownership - I owned my last machine through a limited company, charging myself and my then co-owner for all 'private' hours we flew (plus VAT). That way, I was able to reclaim VAT on expenses. I had to show that the helicopter was a business, ie it was leased out to a school some of the time. HMRC were all over it on two occaisions, but in the end they couldn't find us doing anything wrong. Remember: the tax authorities aren't there to tell you how to run your business, despite what some on here may tell you.
My current machine is N-reg'd and so owned privately (still cheaper than operating under a G-reg and paying the insurance premium for club use of the aircraft). I use it a lot for work, so charge it back at a competitive rate per hour, but must declare the income (less costs of operation) for personal tax. I could have owned it through my company but HMRC let me know in no uncertain terms that if I used it privately - even just once a year - I should pay tax on 30% of the capital cost of the aircraft, per annum
!
Drop me a PM with your plan and I'll gladly give you my spin on things. You'll never avoid tax, but you can minimise it if you play your cards right.