Winding up UK company with Commercial Property

[zuuuttt]

Hi,

I currently have a contract in Belgium and looks like I will be able to renew for another year so considering setting up a Belgian company to contract through. Given the legislation regarding dividends and T&S coming into effect this April I am seriously considering closing down my UK ltd.

I do have one problem which is that I bought a commercial property in 2013 which is held in the name of the company, rent comes into the company also. The rental income is £12k before maintenance. So my question is should I:

1) Close the company and transfer property to myself as an individual
2) Let the company run and do consultancy through the Belgian company but leave the rental income to gather in the UK company. As the income is quite low, probably not as concerned about the dividend thresholds etc. but seems wasteful to keep it running and paying accounting admin costs for the £12k gross a year.

Many thanks for your help.

[TykeMerc]

Hi,

I currently have a contract in Belgium and looks like I will be able to renew for another year so considering setting up a Belgian company to contract through. Given the legislation regarding dividends and T&S coming into effect this April I am seriously considering closing down my UK ltd.

I do have one problem which is that I bought a commercial property in 2013 which is held in the name of the company, rent comes into the company also. The rental income is £12k before maintenance. So my question is should I:

1) Close the company and transfer property to myself as an individual
2) Let the company run and do consultancy through the Belgian company but leave the rental income to gather in the UK company. As the income is quite low, probably not as concerned about the dividend thresholds etc. but seems wasteful to keep it running and paying accounting admin costs for the £12k gross a year.

Many thanks for your help.

1. The company OWNS the commercial property, you don't, you can't just transfer it. You can sell it to yourself at a fair market rate of course. You would be well advised to be able to demonstrate that the sale price is a fair market rate too, a few Estate Agent valuations in writing will do it.
2. You could sell the property on the open market and liquidate the company in the usual way or make the company dormant and pay minimal accountancy fees.

It's very important for you to understand that YourCo Ltd and You are 2 separate legal entities.

[Alan @ BroomeAffinity]

Remember even if the co transfers (OK, sells) the property to you, you'll need to pay stamp duty which can be considerable.

[TykeMerc]

Remember even if the co transfers (OK, sells) the property to you, you'll need to pay stamp duty which can be considerable.

Indeed, plus any conveyancing and of course the company will realise some taxable profits on the sale. All in all it's a bit of a rats nest which is one of the reasons so many on here advise against buying property with a contracting YourCo Ltd.