HACKER Q&A
📣 mittermayr

EU) Moving UK Company to Ireland?


I have been running my company in the UK for almost a decade now, living there for most of that time. With the world going through kind of a rough patch at the moment, and the UK in particular, I am trying to prepare for what's next. We're hoping to move away soon (still unclear where to, however), but it will most likely be within the EU (I have an EU passport). My home country (not the UK) is a bit of a disaster for small companies, and I don't trust the UK gov enough to figure a way out of the situation anytime soon. So... seeing all the big corps have (for tax and EU reasons mostly) incorporated in Ireland, I wondered what the status quo is for non-resident company formation there. I've heard many things over the years, and apparently a lot has changed (improved) recently, too. I've also had a company incorporated with Stripe Atlas before in the US, but managing the whole Delaware tax/franchise thing remotely was a bit much for a one-man-contract-shop kind of operation. Ideally I'd like to be as close as possible to what the UK limited format was, as that allowed me to keep myself separate from the company, legally, and it helped tremendously in managing taxes so that a super large short-term project won't take me out financially.

Long story short: anyone (non-resident) recently incorporated in Ireland, perhaps even doing contract work for (mostly) EU companies and/or having revenue come in from SaaS subscription products? Anything I need to watch out for? I have been digging through the company formation websites, but it's been a bit of a mess to be honest. In the UK it took 15 minutes to get rolling and that was it.

Either way, thanks for reading and would love to hear how you guys are working through similar things (in the EU specifically). I've heard of the digital citizen thing in Estonia, but while that sounded great, I did a bit of research on it and it turned out not to be very practical.

  👤 aosaigh Accepted Answer ✓
It’s interesting you post this as I’m currently in the process of closing my Irish Ltd. and creating a UK one as I move over here (UK) as a tax resident.

The reason for doing this is that it’s not clear to me how you can draw a salary and pay tax as a UK resident unless through a UK Ltd.? How are you planning on doing this as a matter of interest if you are not an Irish tax resident? I assume that for large corporations they can afford to create local companies in various EU countries that bill their Irish entity for “services”. These local companies in turn pay salaries to PAYE employees.

Regarding company formation, I can’t speak as a non resident, but setting up a company shouldn’t be too difficult, it’s just not as easy as the U.K. You can do it by yourself but there are many accountants that will do it for you for a fixed fee. They usually file all relevant documentation and transfer the company into your name.

The framework for company law was recently revamped in 2014. I’m a lone director and shareholder of a limited liability company with a family member acting as secretary. My accountant makes annual returns to The Revenue (HMRC) and The CRO (Companies House). I handle regular tax payments through ROS which is the online tax system.

👤 fiftyacorn
It might be worth considering northern ireland?