Moving Ltd company to Scotland?

puddleduck

My (small, worked from home) Ltd co. is "registered in England & Wales", but we're about to move to Scotland.

Does anyone know if I'll have to re-register it there or do anything regarding this change?

Hoping someone knows the answer to this obscure question!

ukbill69

Why dont you register your new company in scotland

register your new company like:

your company name (Scotland) Ltd

and keep your other company as:

your company name (England) Ltd

Then at least you would get 65k's worth of tax free trading bfore your regged for vat

WHA

The only problem is the registered office address. Just get an English mailbox address (or use your accountant or solicitor if in E&W) as the company registered office address - that is what most co's do when moving north to south or vice versa. You can still have a Scottish trading address for an E&W company. It's only the official reg office address that must stay E&W.

If you couldn't do this, the alternative would be to formally wind up the E&W one and start a new one in Scotland. This may pose problems as you could create a tax liability if you have any assets of value in your E&W company which would have to be sold and bought at current market value (or maybe a relief or concession may be available depending on circumstances). And, of course, closing one down and starting another will cost and take a lot of your valuable time.

I wouldn't recommend having two on the go at once. Your small company rates and thresholds for corporation tax are halved and HMRC would aggregate both companies for VAT purposes if they were both in the same trade with the same directors/shareholders, so getting two lots of VAT-free turnover doesn't really work. No to mention, two lots of accountants fees, bank charges, insurance, etc., etc.

puddleduck

Thank you!

I already use my accountant as the registered office address, so will talk to him when I'm ready to tell him of the move, and ask if I can keep it there.

If I can avoid registering a new business immediately, I'd prefer to do that, as we're not sure if we'll settle there permanently or not yet.

Thanks again

pd