Ltd Coy/Legality

castle96

friend has submitted various applications for new Ltd Coys. I know that you can use different addresses to 'muddy the waters', but is it legal/acceptable to use a combination of 'different' names' ?, eg Barry James Surname on one, James Barry Surname on another, Jim Barry Surname on another ?

antrobus

castle96 wrote: »

friend has submitted various applications for new Ltd Coys. I know that you can use different addresses to 'muddy the waters', but is it legal/acceptable to use a combination of 'different' names' ?, eg Barry James Surname on one, James Barry Surname on another, Jim Barry Surname on another ?

Don't understand. Why does your friend want to 'muddy the waters'? What is he or she trying to achieve?

castle96

who knows....confusion with HMRC, Companies House, future dealings... is it 'legal' ?

Reaper

In my (inexpert) opinion there is no problem in setting up lots of companies, however I hazard a guess the intention is to use them to do something illegal.

For example they may plan to operate as a single company but pay cheques into a variety of companies to avoid reaching VAT thresholds. Banks would not normally allow cheques to be paid into accounts where the name did not match but if they are similar enough they might get away with it.

I'm completely speculating of course with no real info to go on.

jimjames

castle96 wrote: »

friend has submitted various applications for new Ltd Coys. I know that you can use different addresses to 'muddy the waters', but is it legal/acceptable to use a combination of 'different' names' ?, eg Barry James Surname on one, James Barry Surname on another, Jim Barry Surname on another ?

Is he disqualified from holding directorship?

There is no limit to the number of companies that you can own/be a director of so not sure what he is trying to achieve here unless like Reaper says the intention is to do something illegal although you don't mention what the company names are.

I'd hazard a guess that using a fake name to be a company director is illegal as it is not a real person but in essence it doesn't really matter what director/shareholder name it is in. The important bit is that he declares the holdings and income to HMRC as he is the owner regardless of the name on the forms. Creating fake personas in order to evade tax or other obligations most certainly is illegal and while some might get away with it for a while there are limits how far you can do that before being caught.

thenudeone

Do you mean the company names are different variants of his real name?
If so - that's perfectly legal. In the main, you can call a company whatever you like. It doesn't have to reflect any real person's name.

castle96

the Coy names are various. Different businesses/types.
The surname is always the same/correct, but the Christian names are always reversed/shortened

robatwork

Your friend should be honest, and not "Coy"

jimjames

castle96 wrote: »

the Coy names are various. Different businesses/types.
The surname is always the same/correct, but the Christian names are always reversed/shortened

Assume you mean Limited Companies.

Has he explained what his reasoning is for the multiple companies? For every one you need to submit annual accounts and returns which seems a huge hassle for no benefit - unless he has some plan that all makes sense