Anyone operating through an offshore limited company?

[DirtyCash]

If google, amazon and starbucks are getting away with it then surely i can too? I'm thinking to go outside of EU and US jurisdiction considering recent scandals in switzerland. Always fancied a trip to the cayman islands!!

Idea might be to set up a limited company abroad then to charge my UK company some kind of licence/consulting fees. Thoughts/experiences? I figure that I can save £15k/year in corporation tax!!

[DannyF1966]

Ok, I may be fairly new here and still a bit green about the gills, but even I know this idea is a pile of kack.

[CloudWalker]

That's because Google and Starbucks have expensive highly trained lawyers and accountants who know every loop hole.
What do you have?

[jmo21]

Cool, let us know how you get on over the next few years.

[BolshieBastard]

If google, amazon and starbucks are getting away with it then surely i can too? I'm thinking to go outside of EU and US jurisdiction considering recent scandals in switzerland. Always fancied a trip to the cayman islands!!

Idea might be to set up a limited company abroad then to charge my UK company some kind of licence/consulting fees. Thoughts/experiences? I figure that I can save £15k/year in corporation tax!!

Go ahead. Make my day.

[BlasterBates]

You don't have anything to licence, Starbucks and Google do no-one can question they have a very big marketing pull. They can justify it with examples and comparisons of similar companies. You would be surprised how many of these big names use Franchises.

If you try to argue "Dirty Cash" is a marketing name worth thousands you're going to have a huge uphill battle.

Sceondly you need a company with employees who are actuallly in Switzerland or Luxembourg running it. You probably don't have any.

Thirdly, whilst there are significant savings for a huge company they still pay tax in Switzerland or Luxembourg and whilst it is less than in the UK it's not as low as you might think it is.

If you can persuade your client that you'll do offsite work. Then there is nothing to stop you travelling over to Switzerland setting up a company and doing it there and "avoiding UK tax". But by the time you've costed this out, it won't be worth it. It would cost you far more than you save in tax.

[Taita]

If google, amazon and starbucks are getting away with it then surely i can too? I'm thinking to go outside of EU and US jurisdiction considering recent scandals in switzerland. Always fancied a trip to the cayman islands!!

Idea might be to set up a limited company abroad then to charge my UK company some kind of licence/consulting fees. Thoughts/experiences? I figure that I can save £15k/year in corporation tax!!

Brilliant! When you have some time (probably at Her Majesty's pleasure) perhaps you can tax your incisive mind a little more.....Who knows? You might invent a wheel!:

[mrv]

If google, amazon and starbucks are getting away with it then surely i can too? I'm thinking to go outside of EU and US jurisdiction considering recent scandals in switzerland. Always fancied a trip to the cayman islands!!

Idea might be to set up a limited company abroad then to charge my UK company some kind of licence/consulting fees. Thoughts/experiences? I figure that I can save £15k/year in corporation tax!!

I'm sure HMRC are training their junior lawyers on cases like this. Something like making a substitution and letting a promising 17 yo player on for the last 10 minutes, when you're 5:0 up.

[mrv]

That's because Google and Starbucks have expensive highly trained lawyers and accountants who know every loop hole.
What do you have?

No one can stop a man with a dream!

Well, maybe except a tiny bit of stone cold rock hard reality.

[meridian]

Not a problem setting up an off shore company and sending all your money to it. Question though - how are you going to get the dough back into the UK without getting taxed on it?