Atypical company set-up in the UK

[dagr]

Hello,

As I mentioned on another thread here, I'm looking into setting up a UK subsidiary of a French company. Our UK company's requirements would be:

1) A new, private Ltd company (wholly owned by French company), with zero employees.
2) Director & secretary both based in France (although I am a Brit myself).
3) VAT registered.
4) Very, very low volume of business transactions (<10 per year).
5) Offices: Not required. Address could be at a relative's house or, probably better, at a factor's address.
6) Telecoms: Probably not needed but would consider a voice forwarding system later if inexpensive (forwarding calls to France).
7) Banking: Not strictly necessary, but will consider if free or very cheap (credit cards, loans, etc, not essential & no overdraft. It's mainly for dealing with VAT recovery stuff on imports). Full Online access a MUST.
8) Accounting/legal: Given the very low volume nature of the business, I'll probably do this myself. Not ideal, but I don't think a CA would charge low enough for the tiny volume involved.

As you may have guessed, I'm being forced into setting up this UK entity against my will (lol), so keeping things simple (i.e. hands off) and costs to a minimum is a must.

Questions:
1) What are the typical costs and delays for a turn-key solution to UK company set-up and VAT registration?
2) What are the typical annual costs of a UK address with minimum mail forwarding (i.e. only the legal stuff, not publicity, etc)?
3) Do UK banks charge for the kind of minimalist activity listed above?

Sorry to be a drain and ask so many questions. Maybe in the future I can help someone with French-related business matters (I have set up 4 companies of varying sizes and type over the last 16 years).

Please feel free to post here or email me with info and/or quotes, including Darren & Alan who replied on my VAT-related thread.

Cheers.

David.

 

[[email protected]]

For a UK limited would suggest you contact Tina on [email protected].

She can sort out a new company within 24 hours, I think the cost for formation is £60, mail forwarding approx £39 plus the facility for registered office.

As for banks, most UK high street banks offer a similar service but if you want to open one up here, best to do it while visiting as they don't do postal applications due to the money laundering regulations. I'm also not aware of any that offer online banking for Euro accounts, they're ok for GBP but not foreign currencies.

As for accounting, if you provide most of the information yourself and the input from the accountant is simply to check the figures and put them in the required format, should only require a couple of hours work....drop me an email if you would like a more detailed quote.

In addition, Companies House will charge an annual return fee of £15 (for online filing) or £30 (for paper filing).

Kind Regards

Darren

 

[gj]

I'm intrigued! If there are only 10 transactions I am wondering what the requirement for a UK company really is, especially if it is being done on the cheap. I can understand wanting to be seen to deal with a UK based company, but with the set up you suggest, it will have very poor UK presence and perhaps not very professional looking.

Of course, you may not wish to give any further detail, but I am wondering whether a limited UK company is really the answer here. There may be alternative, less cumbersome solutions.

 

[dagr]

Hello GJ.

The main reason for setting up a UK company is to facilitate the import process, especially VAT recovery. (I could import into France, then transfer to UK, etc., but it becomes messy because there are specific regulatory Customs/CE Mark issues that arise from investigational medical devices). And, as a typical "transaction" is worth about £150K a pop, VAT recovery is important.

As my French company is just starting out too, I don't want to overload the whole start-up effort with yet more overheads - I already have an established CA practice in France looking after my legal and accounting work.

Sorry if I gave the impression I wanted to do things on the cheap, but we are a very small company with limited resources - only £70K seed capital - and are jumping into the deep end in terms of business venture risk.

The goal is not to "hoodwink" UK customers into thinking there is a real UK office - all my prospective UK customers (NHS trusts) know I am based in France and that I am back in the UK about once a month. If the business takes off, then it will happen in about 8 months time, not before. Then, the goal would be to set up - or rather activate - the actual UK operations centre for sales and servicing, but that's still a ways off.

If you (or anyone else) has other ideas on how this could be done, then please don't hesitate to PM me or post here.

David.

 

[gj]

Now I understand.

We are doing something similar for a UK company owned by a guy in Italy, which is at a similar stage to you.

Through an office services company we work with we are able to provide a "virtual" presence in the UK, with calls patched through to people in Italy or Germany.

Might be worth chatting - you cal call me on 01908 630230 if you wish

Regards

Graham

 

[clickprofits]

I already have an established CA practice in France looking after my legal and accounting work.

David, slightly off topic, but I am looking for someone to do legal and accounting work for me in France in relation to a new project - would you be willing to pass on details of your French CA? (assuming you are happy with the work they do for you!)

Thank you.

Mark

 

[dagr]

Hi Mark,

Details on their way via PM.

(FYI: Setting up a company in France is 100 times more difficult than in the UK).

David.

 

[injan]

Hello,

Questions:
1) What are the typical costs and delays for a turn-key solution to UK company set-up and VAT registration?
2) What are the typical annual costs of a UK address with minimum mail forwarding (i.e. only the legal stuff, not publicity, etc)?
3) Do UK banks charge for the kind of minimalist activity listed above?

Please feel free to post here or email me with info and/or quotes, including Darren & Alan who replied on my VAT-related thread.

Cheers.

David.

Hi David i am not an accountant but i was looking at the same thing
and found OZZys website _
http://www.quickformations.com/
here u get a quick cheap set-up of a uk company and i think it includes mail forewarding or theres an option for that

I opened an Business account with Abbey because they had a NO BANK CHARGES offer so u may also like to do that...

Regarding VAT _this is only applicable in UK if you have a high turnover £30 or £60,000 PA_ so you dont need that unless you want to voluntarily.

this is the best advice i can give myself but i'm sure quick formations website can offer more info... webs

I am also trying to find a company set-up service in Litchensteign apparently the directors names are not published over there and u have to apply to the government to get access to this info _ thought this might also be of interest(usefull to know) to you...

Injan