Running a UK company from abroad

A UK limited company doesn't stop needing an accountant because its owner boarded a plane. Statutory accounts, corporation tax at 19–25%, VAT returns, payroll and pensions, confirmation statements, dividend paperwork — all of it continues, all of it is what Buzz does for hundreds of UK companies already, and all of it works remotely because we're a digital practice anyway.

What changes when the owner is abroad

• Company residence. A company is tax-resident where it's centrally managed and controlled. One director running everything from one overseas country for years can put that in question — and some countries will claim the company. We help you keep governance, records and decision-making arranged so the position is clean, and flag when local advice is needed.
• Your dividends. As a non-resident, UK dividends are often effectively taxed at 0% in the UK under the "disregarded income" rules — but they're usually taxable where you live. The right salary/dividend mix changes when you leave; we re-plan it.
• PAYE. A director paid while genuinely working entirely abroad may not need UK PAYE withholding — an NT code done properly, not just switched off.
• VAT doesn't care where you live; place-of-supply rules decide everything. Selling services from Dubai through a UK company has answers — guessed VAT treatment is the most expensive kind.

The service

Everything a UK company needs, on one simple price: bookkeeping review, accounts, CT600, VAT, payroll (£8 a head, £25 minimum, as standard), company secretarial, and a real person on WhatsApp in your timezone-tolerant inbox. Xero or FreeAgent, your choice.

How it works

1. Onboarding: books reviewed, Xero or FreeAgent connected, the salary/dividend mix re-planned for your non-resident position, and the residence file (board minutes, decision records) set up properly.
2. Through the year: bookkeeping oversight, VAT returns, payroll runs (£8 a head, £25 minimum), dividends papered correctly, questions answered on WhatsApp across your timezone.
3. Year end: statutory accounts, CT600, confirmation statement — and your personal return coordinated with the company's position, because the two only make sense together.

What we'll need from you

• Last accounts and current bookkeeping access (or a shoebox — we've seen worse)
• Where you are, your role day-to-day, and who else directs the company
• Contracts for your main clients — place-of-supply drives the VAT answers
• Your personal tax position, so salary and dividends are planned, not defaulted

The thing to get right first: where the company is tax resident

A UK-incorporated company is UK tax resident by default. But a company is also resident wherever it is centrally managed and controlled — and if you are the sole director, making every real decision from Dubai or Sydney, another country can form a perfectly good view that the company is resident there too. Then you have two tax authorities with a claim on the same profits, a treaty tie-breaker to run, and possibly a local corporate filing obligation nobody budgeted for.

This is fixable, and it is much easier to fix by keeping decent habits than by arguing later. Board decisions minuted and taken in the UK, a UK-resident co-director where the structure supports one, and a clear line between your personal work abroad and the company's decision making. We will tell you honestly if your setup looks fragile, because the alternative is finding out during an enquiry.

What the 2% covers

The same package a UK-based Buzz company client gets: annual accounts filed at Companies House, the CT600 corporation tax return, VAT returns where you are registered, payroll at £8 per head per month (£25 minimum), company secretarial and the confirmation statement, and the bookkeeping running underneath it on Xero or FreeAgent so the figures are current rather than reconstructed each January.

Getting money out, from abroad

The salary-versus-dividend question changes shape once you are non-resident, and not always in the direction people expect.

• Dividends from a UK company paid to a non-resident fall under the disregarded income rules, which can mean no further UK tax beyond the corporation tax already paid — at the cost of your personal allowance. Your country of residence will usually then want to tax them.
• Salary for duties performed outside the UK is generally not taxable in the UK, but it still carries National Insurance questions and may create an obligation where you live.
• Director's fees are treated differently again and are frequently taxable here even when the work is done abroad.

The right mix depends on your country's rules as much as on the UK's, which is why we would rather talk to your local accountant than guess. The re-plan is part of the service, not an extra.