Not sure what to do with UK Ltd now I'm living overseas

[Sue B]

No Sue B? She's normally pretty hot on replies. Unless there is no money in this for her

Maybe we have to say her name three times and she will appear?

Sue B Sue B Sue B

Anything happen?

you summoned me?! sorry for late reply, a) I didn’t get the original notification until today, and b) I’ve been very busy job hunting!

It’s true I’m no expert in the tax regime in Thailand but I am more than happy to have a chat if you want to send me a dm Sartois, can probably help map out your options with you.

[BlasterBates]

If you've been living in Thailand for more than 6 months you're probably resident and liable for tax on your worldwide income. You may not be on the radar, but you need to be careful.

[northernladuk]

How much are we talking here? If it's a reasonable sum you really ought to be talking to a specialist not a bunch of UK contractors.

Sue B Has worked in the internation arena and although I don't think this is in her area she might know other international specilists that can help. Anything Sue?

No Sue B? She's normally pretty hot on replies. Unless there is no money in this for her

Maybe we have to say her name three times and she will appear?

Sue B Sue B Sue B

Anything happen?

[peterboroughsas]

Sure I appreciate that. It varies but it's about $12k-$20k per month income with about £150k in the UK Ltd bank account.

You make this much per month selling courses on Udemy? Well done. Is it much work, as in you create them once and then just watch the money roll or are they live classes?

[Jolie]

3. Is a US LLC a good option or should I be looking at an alternative country for this? Note: I have considered a Thailand Ltd but it is not a good option for many reasons.

Why remove yourself from one fire, and place yourself in the middle of another?

Unless you really have to, stay away from the US tax system, it's another world of pain that you need to avoid at all cost.

There are plenty of other countries with various options.

As you said in your recent post, seek advice from two or three good tax lawyers and/or accountants with experience in this. If you are staying in Thailand or indeed just remaining outside the UK/US for the long term, then you really need to be looking at more friendly (and legal) ways to handle your tax affairs. But until you declare tax residency somewhere, you will still be under the UK system, regardless of what happens to your LtdCo. (And depending on what other ties you still have in the UK)

There are various resources you can search for that cover tax planning for digital nomads in your situation.

It depends how long you intend to stay abroad.

[sartois]

Are you not infringing local tax authorities if you're paying no Thai tax over periods of years?

Potentially, I'm not sure as I will probably have difficulties even registering for tax here as I am on a long term tourist visa which means not allowed to work so it will baffle them as to why I would even want to pay tax. Also, the only income that is taxable is income sourced in Thailand in that financial year, whereas my income is royalties from past work sourced from the US, so my tax bill in Thailand would be zero anyway. I'll go see a tax lawyer next week and find out, but would be surprised if there are any repercussions.

[TheGreenBastard]

Are you not infringing local tax authorities if you're paying no Thai tax over periods of years?

[sartois]

How much are we talking here? If it's a reasonable sum you really ought to be talking to a specialist not a bunch of UK contractors.

Sure I appreciate that. It varies but it's about $12k-$20k per month income with about £150k in the UK Ltd bank account.

The more I think about it the more I am convincing myself that I should just liquidate the UK Ltd, take the money out with Entrepreneur relief and just not have any kind of Ltd company. I cannot think of a reason that I need to retain it if not living in the UK anymore.

[northernladuk]

How much are we talking here? If it's a reasonable sum you really ought to be talking to a specialist not a bunch of UK contractors.

Sue B Has worked in the internation arena and although I don't think this is in her area she might know other international specilists that can help. Anything Sue?

[sartois]

Bit of a long shot but I thought I would post my situation on here to see if anyone has any suggestions….

I was doing a normal contracting gig in the UK up to about 2019, then after that contract finished started selling training courses on Udemy. I kept my UK Ltd and received all the payments from Udemy through there. It went well enough that I did not return to contracting and just continued doing this. This gave me some freedom to travel and I’ve since found myself living in Thailand since Feb 2020 (got stuck here when covid started) and since then just carried on as I am, paying tax in the UK and continued to use the UK Ltd. I’m now quite settled here and after chatting with a “guy down the pub” he suggested I was crazy to be paying tax in the UK now I am not living there.

Anyway, I am wondering what I should do. It’s something I asked my accountant about over a year ago and liquidation of the UK Ltd was discussed, but UK accountants are not experienced in international tax advice so I didn’t take it any further after that and put it on my “things to do list”.

It seems first of all, from a personal tax perspective I should not be a UK tax resident and sign up to the Thailand tax system. From what I understand of the tax system here any income earned abroad from previous financial year does not incur income tax in Thailand. When I do this I will seek guidance from a local accountant so not worried about this part.

Then there is the UK Ltd and the retained profits in there - this is the part that gives me a headache. I was thinking about creating a US LLC with the help of a US accountant and ensuring all future income goes through there but this presents further questions:

1. If I did this am I allowed to move the retained profits from the UK Ltd (after corp tax) to the US LLC?
2. If not is my only option to liquidate the UK Ltd?
3. Is a US LLC a good option or should I be looking at an alternative country for this? Note: I have considered a Thailand Ltd but it is not a good option for many reasons.
4. Should I keep both a UK Ltd and a US LLC and just draw down the profits from the UK Ltd over time?
5. Do I even need a UK Ltd or LLC for this situation? Udemy doesn’t need me to have a Ltd company, and transfers (after sales tax and what effectively are considered royalties) the income to my PayPal or Payoneer account. It seems my tax life would be a lot simpler and I’d pay a lot less tax and accountancy fees if I removed this from the equation. I’d get stung for a bit of extra tax from the US side as there isn’t the same agreement with Thailand/US as UK/US but thats only 5% I think and a lot less than corp tax.

I appreciate these are questions that are far more suited to an accountant, but the UK ones cannot help me with this so if anyone on here has a recommendation for an accountant with some kind of international experience I’d love to hear it.