Private Ltd Company and Companies house - privacy questions

penguineater

Say I want to transition from sole trader to a private ltd company while working in a very competitive online industry where doxing is a real threat - is there any way of protecting my personal information from public eyes while still following HMRC rules?

How do owners/directors of private ltd companies achieve this when they are for example a famous youtuber?

greatkingrat

You have to give an address at which you can be contacted, that does not necessary need to be your home address. I expect most "celebrities" would use their agent/accountant as a forwarding address.

penguineater

greatkingrat said:

You have to give an address at which you can be contacted, that does not necessary need to be your home address. I expect most "celebrities" would use their agent/accountant as a forwarding address.

Oh that's interesting - I suppose it still has to be your real name? Is it necessary for all private ltd companies on companies house to display income regardless of how much or little and also how many or few employees/owners?

Jeremy535897

The issue is dealt with here:
https://www.informdirect.co.uk/officers/directors-residential-address-register/

Companies House is ironically one of the worst offenders in disclosing private details of directors. The information stays on there forever, and before 2009 forms still freely able to be viewed on the internet may show full name, date of birth, residential address, and even signature. You have to pay to get them to redact this. It is a disgrace.

penguineater

Jeremy535897 said:

The issue is dealt with here:
https://www.informdirect.co.uk/officers/directors-residential-address-register/

Companies House is ironically one of the worst offenders in disclosing private details of directors. The information stays on there forever, and before 2009 forms still freely able to be viewed on the internet may show full name, date of birth, residential address, and even signature. You have to pay to get them to redact this. It is a disgrace.

Wow it's no wonder billions of pounds was taken via fraud during covid grants, the government gave the fraudsters the necessary information required to do it!

So from what I can gather:

• Residential address - must be my own, not publicly shown

• Registered office address - can be something other than my own - public

• Director's service address - can be something other than my own - public

And the below will always be shown.. no way of using someone else for this?

• name
• nationality
• occupation
• month and year of your date of birth

Jeremy535897

Yes, but the service address and the company's registered office address must be somewhere you can access the post sent to them. The only way to avoid the other details is to avoid being a director, and that is not just a matter of formally being appointed. See: https://www.informdirect.co.uk/company-records/who-is-a-psc-person-with-significant-control/

penguineater

Jeremy535897 said:

Yes, but the service address and the company's registered office address must be somewhere you can access the post sent to them. The only way to avoid the other details is to avoid being a director, and that is not just a matter of formally being appointed. See: https://www.informdirect.co.uk/company-records/who-is-a-psc-person-with-significant-control/

Understood.

I feel like I am looking at this the wrong way.

If I were a youtuber or other online person running a business - why would I not incorporate my company offshore where the tax rates are more favourable and privacy exists? Not sure how the whole getting paid thing works with an offshore company though.

Jeremy535897

Where your company is incorporated is largely irrelevant for tax. It's where its management and control is (ie you) that matters.

uknick

penguineater said:

greatkingrat said:

You have to give an address at which you can be contacted, that does not necessary need to be your home address. I expect most "celebrities" would use their agent/accountant as a forwarding address.

Oh that's interesting - I suppose it still has to be your real name? Is it necessary for all private ltd companies on companies house to display income regardless of how much or little and also how many or few employees/owners?

If your company sales are less than £10.2m and you employ less than 50 employees (there are balance sheet conditions which I assume won't affect you) you don't have to submit full accounts to Companies House.  They just get the balance sheet along with the notes to the accounts.  In addition to this, even a full P&L won't tell a reader how much each person earns, just Company total income.  You could get make a guess at dividends paid out based on reserve movements but there are many factors which could make it an unreliable estimate.  Plus, you won't know who got what dividends as share holdings for private limited companies aren't generally available.

penguineater

uknick said:

penguineater said:

greatkingrat said:

You have to give an address at which you can be contacted, that does not necessary need to be your home address. I expect most "celebrities" would use their agent/accountant as a forwarding address.

Oh that's interesting - I suppose it still has to be your real name? Is it necessary for all private ltd companies on companies house to display income regardless of how much or little and also how many or few employees/owners?

If your company sales are less than £10.2m and you employ less than 50 employees (there are balance sheet conditions which I assume won't affect you) you don't have to submit full accounts to Companies House.  They just get the balance sheet along with the notes to the accounts.  In addition to this, even a full P&L won't tell a reader how much each person earns, just Company total income.  You could get make a guess at dividends paid out based on reserve movements but there are many factors which could make it an unreliable estimate.  Plus, you won't know who got what dividends as share holdings for private limited companies aren't generally available.

Thanks for that info. I think I am set on not wanting to have my personal information public at all - I guess to get the full answers to my questions i'll have to find a reputable accountant that deals with such things. This kind of stuff doesn't seem to be very commonly spoken about on forums.

csgohan4

I put my accountants address as part of my package with them.  I learnt to do this as I had identity fraud and noted 2 credit cards I hadn't order and someone lurking around trying to intercept post. 

I did complain to Companies house once, poor call handler, I don't think they knew what to do either but clearly above their pay grade and don't care attitude.