UK LLP or Limited Company to enable Stripe payments for my UAE registered store?

[ecowarrior]

Hey Guys,

Happened to discover this forum only yesterday while I was working on incorporating a company in the UK. Lot of interesting discussions on here! 🙂
I'm kind of not sure if an LLP or Limited Company structure would best suit my requirement. Did some research online and also spoke with Rapid Incorporation, but was unable to find the best route to proceed.

I have got a lifestyle business incorporated in the UAE with the sales channel being purely via my brand's online store and will be selling worldwide. Considering the limited availability of payment gateway providers in the region, I spoke with Stripe and they confirmed that they would be happy to grant an account to my UK company regardless of the structure. Naturally, I'm neither a resident nor a citizen of the UK.

My understanding is that as a UK LLP, I would not be liable to corporation tax in the UK - but, as a Director/Shareholder, I may be liable to income tax on dividends. Would this be applicable given my residence status? I plan on routing Stripe payouts to my TransferWise GBP account, and ultimately withdrawing to my GBP account in the UAE.

Any suggestions on what would be the best structure to avoid having to pay any taxes (corporation or personal) in the UK? Also, I understand that with a UK LLP or Limited Company, I would ideally need to file annual accounts - how do I go about this when I would be moving earnings from my UK TW account to my UAE bank account?

Appreciate any help and guidance.

 

[NicolasMaduro]

I think the idea of the LLP is that you don´t pay any taxes in the UK, if you don´t have any activity in the UK. Ie. you are personally taxed in UAE at 0%.

To be eligible for a Stripe account you will have to be a resident in any Stripe supported country(ie. UAE is not supported). So you would need to get yourself
some documents from any Stripe supported country.

 

[Marzio]

NicolasMaduro said:
To be eligible for a Stripe account you will have to be a resident in any Stripe supported country
Click to expand...

This is not correct.

 

[JustAnotherNomad]

Wow, that would be good news. I also thought they would check the manager's residency.
But would you be able to get a UK tax ID if management is outside the UK?

 

[NicolasMaduro]

marzio said:
This is not correct.

View attachment 1544
Click to expand...

Thank you for correcting me. Great news then!

 

[ecowarrior]

NicolasMaduro said:
I think the idea of the LLP is that you don´t pay any taxes in the UK, if you don´t have any activity in the UK. Ie. you are personally taxed in UAE at 0%.
Click to expand...

This is my understanding too - but, I have come across a lot of contradicting information so far, and eventually I'm asked to consult with a Tax Lawyer.

 

[ecowarrior]

JustAnotherNomad said:
Wow, that would be good news. I also thought they would check the manager's residency.
But would you be able to get a UK tax ID if management is outside the UK?
Click to expand...

I believe the Tax ID is automatically issued by HMRC within 2 weeks after incorporation.

 

[reesek]

You can get a eur settlement of visa mc directly for uae company. But you won't be able to sell to Usa.

 

[NicolasMaduro]

reesek said:
You can get a eur settlement of visa mc directly for uae company. But you won't be able to sell to Usa.
Click to expand...

Do they payout to TransferWise IBAN(EU iban) for the UAE company?

 

[reesek]

Yes. Although I suggest getting a settlement account in between the two to hedge aml screening risk

 

[ITOFFSHORE]

Thank you for the information provided. This is great news!