jtj1

Hi All,

Im wondering if someone could help shed some light on the following as am getting conflicting information:

I currently own 100% of shares of a limited IT consultancy company and will be moving to join my wife in the US in the next 2 months, when I make the move, I will have of course paid all UK company taxes on the money held within the company which will stand at around £40,000

My question is, will I attract any more taxes if I:

a) continued to pay myself a salary equivalent to the min UK wage
b) closed the company down and put the money in a UK savings accounts
c) continued to withdraw dividends from the company

Thanks in advance of all your helpful snippets of knowledge

Pulaski

Dividends and income will be taxed, because your Ltd is a separate legal entity to you (in the US consultants and small businesses are usually "S Corps" or LLCs, which are "flow through" entities, taxed as part of their owners, not separately. The question is whether you want to pay taxes in the UK, in which case act quickly before you arrive in the US, or in the US, in which case wait until you have arrived here. If you pay yourself a salary in the US you will also likely have to pay payroll taxes.

Lucybell33

I was in a similar situation, and was advised by Deloittes to get the company closed down. I got it wound up before the end of last tax year, to avoid all the tax, reporting etc that I'd have faced had it remained open. We elected to be treated as non-residents last year (we were here less than half the tax year) to avoid paying double taxes on all the dividend income. Subject to certain conditions, the money remaining in the company can qualify for Entrepreneurs Relief, which means you take it as a capital gain, paying just 10% CGT on the excess over your CGT limit.