Overview
The United Kingdom is an ideal location for companies to set up their headquarters and businesses to operate their international trade and commerce. London has maintained its status as a leading financial centre for decades and offers all the advantages of a world class hub of professionals to service the financial capital.
With its respectable business reputation, the UK offers a prestigious corporate location that is accepted internationally as a stable business environment. Over 450,000 new companies are incorporated there each year and it ranks seventh in the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business Report 2018. This business friendly environment has transcended uncertainty in relation to the future relationship with Europe.
When appropriately structured, UK companies and other corporate vehicles are widely used in a variety of tax-efficient structures and flexible wealth management and investment arrangements. There are alternative legal structures available in the UK, with each vehicle offering a distinct set of features to meet a variety of needs. These include the private limited company, the limited partership and the limited liability partnership.
The UK limited liability partnership offers exceptional tax planning opportunities. A UK LLP is tax transparent or a pass-through entity for UK tax purposes, that is to say, it has no liability to tax as a legal person, but rather it is the members individually who are liable to tax on income they receive from the partnership.
In the event that members whether companies or individuals who receive revenue from the partnership are not resident in the United Kingdom and the LLP carries on no business activity in the United Kingdom, the members would not be liable to UK tax.
The UK nominee structure is a simple set-up where a UK company acts as agent for an offshore principal, thus offering an onshore face with all the benefit that an offshore structure can provide. The concept is mainly used to structure trading operations in terms of which the only income subjected to UK tax is the agent fee payable to the UK company. Such nominee structures provide a high level of credibility and confidentiality.
The United Kingdom has the greatest number of double taxation treaties available in any jurisdiction and companies operating in UK can access the vast network of such treaties which makes the UK a popular location for holding companies and other cross border ventures.
As tax laws are under constant review, appropriate advice should always be obtained before taking steps to implement a structure.
The office of Intershore is situated in London at Room 403, Dowgate Hill House 14-16 Dowgate Hill, London EC4R 2SU and transacts electronically with Companies House to provide fast and efficient service to its clients worldwide, which includes incorporation and management of companies and limited liability partnerships, preparation of accounts for the Inland Revenue and filing of annual returns with the Registrar of Companies. Intershore Consult (UK) Ltd also assists with opening of bank accounts and provides nominee shareholders and directors.