Investing Company Money

[DrV]

Is it possible to invest my Ltd Co money in a long term investment plan (ie shares or funds).

If so, what taxes are there? Will I still have to pay CT on the money invested? What about any gains the investment will make?

[philip@wellwoodhoyle]

Most investments are open to limited companies, i.e. bonds, stocks and shares. Some aren't such as premium bonds, ISAs, and some endowments/unit trusts - some aren't because of law, some aren't because of rules made by the investors/financial companies.

Your main problem will be the absence of the usual capital gains tax reliefs and exemptions - no personal annual exemption, no taper relief.

Worse still potentially is the "double tax" charge when the company sells the investments (and pays tax on the profits), and then you get taxed again when you take the profits out of the company, i.e. as dividends, wages or a capital distribution.

At the end of the day it depends on what you plan to do, type of investment, timescale, whether borrowing needed, etc. etc. If you have a plan, you can also plan the likely taxes one way or another to help decide which way to go.