| If you own several businesses in different countries and would like to keep control over them, why not think about the creation of a holding company in the UK?
Why should you bother with registering a company? Leave this complicated process to the professionals! Welcome to Coddan, UK limited companies incorporation agent. Our company offers companies formation services in England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland for clients from all over the world. We are pleased to provide you with information, guidance, and advice for setting-up a small business in the UK. Do you want to incorporate your business in Edinburgh, London, or Liverpool? Are you looking for information and guidance regarding limited company registration and small business start-up?
We will give you any assistance or advice relating to holding company registration matters from the moment you choose to move forward with us, and for as long after incorporation as you may require. We provide one of the highest-rated companies incorporation services to our clients around the world, particularly for UK residents. Our expertise ranges from local to international affairs, thus giving our clients an edge over others in accessing the international market. | Important Note:We offer electronic holding company registration and electronic filing of documents. Have your new UK holding company started within only 6–8 business hours. We also offer Nominee Secretary and registered office facilities in addition to public company formations. We supply expert advice in navigating English legal and business systems, helping you set-up in England, Scotland, Northern Ireland, and/or the Republic of Ireland. If you have an idea for a business, we can also assist you with starting-up your new business directly in the UK from the ground up. For more information about the holding company incorporation service available from Coddan, please visit the UK holding companies section of our main website. | |  | |  |   Holding companies are companies the purpose of which consists exclusively or primarily in the administration of assets, or in participation in, or the permanent administration of, interest in other enterprises. A holding company is a company that usually confines its activities to owning stock in, and supervising the management of, other companies. A holding company usually owns a controlling interest in the companies of which it holds stock. An English or Scottish holding company of an overseas subsidiary company already performs creditably as an international holding company. A standard limited company may be used as a holding company of any kind of entity anywhere in the world. Such a structure: enhances the owner's privacy; facilitates ultimate sales of the underlying business; and may have other practical benefits in the course of day-to-day operations. If you are interested in learning more about the holding companies incorporation service, please feel free to visit the holding companies incorporated in the UK section of our main website. |   The UK has always had substantial tax benefits as a location for the holding company of an international group. The headline corporate tax rate is the lowest of the major economies and generous interest relief provisions reduce taxable profits and make the effective tax rate even lower. The UK has an extremely extensive network of double tax agreements. Unlike many of its European counterparts, the UK does not have capital duty on share subscriptions and there is no withholding tax on dividends paid by UK companies, irrespective of the residence of the shareholder.
The UK government has introduced a corporation tax exemption for the capital gains of companies with substantial shareholdings in other companies. The UK-incorporated holding company must have owned the shareholding for a certain period of time before the disposal in order to qualify for the exemption. In short, in the two years prior to disposal, the UK-incorporated holding company must be able to show a continuous period of ownership of at least 12 months. The legislation sets up the UK as a major international holding company location, and is likely to draw business away from the Danish and Benelux international holding company regimes.
The UK has the widest network of double tax treaties in the world, and is also a signatory to the EU Parent/Subsidiary Directive. Given the quality and extent of the UK's tax treaty network, it is arguably the best performer in the important discipline of extracting overseas dividends at the minimum tax cost. While the UK offers no exemption from UK corporation tax on foreign income dividends, it grants double tax relief by way of a credit for foreign corporation tax underlying the dividends provided that the company holds, directly or indirectly, at least 10 per cent of the share capital of the company from whom the tax credit is claimed. Where the underlying foreign corporate tax rate is 30 per cent or more, then the credit will normally be a complete relief from UK corporation tax – and therefore as good as an exemption.
If you are looking for more information about the benefits of starting-up a holding company in the UK, please feel free to visit the UK as an international holding company location section of our main website. | |  | |  | | Coddan offers electronic holding company formation and electronic filing of documents for your company. For a reasonable fee of £52, we will register your new company with your intended Directors, Company Secretary, registered office, and shareholders all in place and recorded at Companies House at the time of registration, although we can of course still use our nominees for incorporation purposes if you prefer. We complete all the minutes, statutory registers, and official documents on your behalf, and ensure that all necessary forms and Resolutions are correctly filed with the Registrar of Companies.
Holding companies exist for legal, commercial, and tax reasons. An international group requires three things from a holding company: first, the holding company must be able to take dividends out of the operating company free of withholding tax or at a lower rate of withholding tax by virtue of a tax treaty or under the EU Parent/Subsidiary Directive, and to dispose of its investment in the operating company without any liability to capital gains tax or its equivalent in the operating country; secondly, some provisions in the domestic laws of the holding company jurisdiction should wholly or largely exempt such dividends and capital gains from local tax; and thirdly, the international group should have the ability to take dividends out of the holding company without giving rise to any charge to tax in the holding company jurisdiction.
If you are thinking of starting your holding company in the UK and are looking for more information, the how to incorporate a holding company with Coddan section will help you to find out more. |  | | |
