Spouse as Secretary & Shareholder

[saptastic]

Well bearing in mind this question is asked almost weekly you could have done a search to find what you wanted. Your accountant is still your first port of call. He will have his own opinion on this situation...

Try the link below to see how many times this has been asked.
wife shareholder site:contractoruk.com - Google Search

Actually it's good to get other opinions & experiences. This question got me thinking about my own circumstances so was useful. I am sure every forum has questions repeated with a different angle, but this is a forum not a search engine or a database. Also not everyone is an experienced contractor or knows CUK too well.

[contractorsaccountant0704]

Gifting shares is a no-no

You can simply appoint your wife on Companies House for her to be Company Secretary.

You can pay her a wage for the admin work she does, just make sure it's realistic. If she does enough to justify it, and doesn't earn elsewhere, £641 a month from April onward will be enough to count for her state pension without giving rise to tax or NI (assuming a normal tax code).

You can then either gift some of your own shares to your wife, for which you just need a Share Transfer Form, or you can issue new ones. If you want to keep at 50:50 then simply transfer 25 of yours to her.

It's worth getting some advice from an accountant to ensure there's nothing else you need to think about given your individual circumstances.

Sorry but I can't agree with this. Income on shares gifted by a shareholder to his spouse may result in HMRC applying the settlements legislation , thus any income to the donee spouse may well end up being taxed on the donor.
Also, there is no longer any legal requirement to appoint a secretary under CA2006.

[TheFaQQer]

Sorry but I can't agree with this. Income on shares gifted by a shareholder to his spouse may result in HMRC applying the settlements legislation , thus any income to the donee spouse may well end up being taxed on the donor.
Also, there is no longer any legal requirement to appoint a secretary under CA2006.

Arctic settled it once and for all - gifting shares between spouses doesn't fall under S660.

[Clare@InTouch]

Sorry but I can't agree with this. Income on shares gifted by a shareholder to his spouse may result in HMRC applying the settlements legislation , thus any income to the donee spouse may well end up being taxed on the donor.
Also, there is no longer any legal requirement to appoint a secretary under CA2006.

There's no need for a secretary, but the OP asked how to appoint one.

It's also a good idea to appoint your spouse as one (or as an employee) because if they own shares as it ensures they will be entitled to Entrepreneur's Relief upon closure.

The rest TheFaQQER has answered