UK corporate tax for a LTD owned by a non EU resident & options.

[suppliersten]

Iam a resident of a central america country, thinking in getting a UK LTD because of low company maintenance fees (aprox $200 per year), and a very broad range of financial services I can access such as Stripe, Payoneer, Transfer Wise, and UK banks. I operate a legitimate online business with clients outside the UK.

Understanding #1: What I understand is that UK LTD I have to pay corporate taxes based on profit of less then 20%, so if I pay expenses to other non UK providers (by Payoneer) or if I send dividends back to my country iam off the hook for only the remaining money. Is this right? So essentially I can pay most of the income in expenses , or send 99% in dividends and I only pay tax on the 1%. I have no issue in sending the dividends back to my country, i dont need to hide the money.

Understanding #2: In my particular need, why would I need a bank account in Georgia, or Cyprus, or a Company Seychelles or Belize. I suppose the reasons people need this is to hide assets, especially where it makes sense to avoid taxation from the countries where the owner resides AND/OR remain anonymous of public records due to controverial businesses. Is this right?

 

[Martin Everson]

suppliersten said:
Understanding #1: What I understand is that UK LTD I have to pay corporate taxes based on profit of less then 20%, so if I pay expenses to other non UK providers (by Payoneer) or if I send dividends back to my country iam off the hook for only the remaining money. Is this right? So essentially I can pay most of the income in expenses , or send 99% in dividends and I only pay tax on the 1%. I have no issue in sending the dividends back to my country, i dont need to hide the money.
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Not correct. You pay dividends out of profits. So after you do company accounts at end of year and pay company taxes on profit you can payout dividends to yourself and not before. In terms of expenses you can deduct them which will reduce your declared profit. However a lot of dubious expense deducations can be investigated by HMRC which will create a headache for you.

suppliersten said:
Understanding #2: In my particular need, why would I need a bank account in Georgia, or Cyprus, or a Company Seychelles or Belize. I suppose the reasons people need this is to hide assets, especially where it makes sense to avoid taxation from the countries where the owner resides AND/OR remain anonymous of public records due to controverial businesses. Is this right?
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Depends on status of owner. Some owners of companies are resident in tax systems where they are allowed to have offshore businesses that if kept offshore they will not be taxed. Some who use Georgia want to avoid CRS reporting. Others just want simplicity of owning an offshore company as company setup at home is too complex etc.

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Please note my posts should not be taken as financial or tax advice. Please seek professional advice in that respect.

 

[suppliersten]

Thank you for claryfying this. How dubious would it be to declare an expense sent via payoneer to a non european citizen who has no obligation with UK, nor does it have a VAT id or anything like it?