Reply to: Can I buy my main home via my limited company?

[Diver]

No need to apologise Dear - I'm just happy to see that you're still alive (with a full complement of fingers, I hope?).

Still 9 1/2

[cojak]

AAaaargh!

Sorry cojak. I have several people shouting in my head at the moment as I'm on a very very long and important conference call

No need to apologise Dear - I'm just happy to see that you're still alive (with a full complement of fingers, I hope?).

[Diver]

Good Lord of Ruin, he's alive!

And cojak

AAaaargh!

Sorry cojak. I have several people shouting in my head at the moment as I'm on a very very long and important conference call

[TheFaQQer]

Hi cojac, still pushing boundaries I see


I have a property you can buy. I can't shift it and my accountant advised me not to buy it into my LTD.

Good Lord of Ruin, he's alive!

And cojak

[Diver]

I actually moved it there.

Then changed my mind and returned it here.

Hi cojac, still pushing boundaries I see


I have a property you can buy. I can't shift it and my accountant advised me not to buy it into my LTD.

[WTFH]

Of course you can - just remember to keep a copy of your receipt and file it under 'Accommodation & Subsistence'

...and you can only live in it for 2 years. After that IR35 kicks in. (My accountant googled that one for me)

[radish2008]

Of course you can - just remember to keep a copy of your receipt and file it under 'Accommodation & Subsistence'

[chopper]

1) You'd need a limited company mortgage, which tend to be higher than private mortgages.
2) You want to rent it to yourself? A commercial mortgage wont do as it isn't an office or a shop, a limited company can't get a residential mortgage (because a limited company can't live in a house) so it would need a buy to let mortgage. Buy to let mortgages are more expensive than residential mortgages, and Limited company BTL is more expensive than private BTL mortgages. And I would imagine there would be a clause in said mortgage preventing the limited company from renting it to connected persons, e.g. shareholders and directors. So this is a long way of saying you almost certainly wouldn't get a mortgage, but if you did it would be at a high interest rate.
2a) Oh, and most Limited Company BTL lenders will want a Special Purpose Vehicle rather than your IT Contracting limited company.
3) So you overcame the mortgage problem. Don't forget now that Stamp Duty will be 3% higher.
4) OK, so you paid the extra stamp duty. HMRC will want you to pay the going rate of rental for your property in your area. So don't be thinking about discount rents. Any difference between the discount rent you're paying and the going rate would be assessed as a BIK.
5) So you're paying the going rate of rent. That is, give or take, about the same as a mortgage payment. So to make that rent payment, you'll need to take the same level of dividend as you would if you'd have bought the house yourself. Either that, or you pay Income Tax and Class whatever NICs on the BIK.
6) And think that your limited company will sell the house to you at below market value? Think again. The taxman will work out what you've done and assess the tax as if it was sold to you at full market rate. Oh, and you'll be paying stamp duty on such a transfer.


I reckon the taxman would LOVE you to do this, because a) you'll pay more tax and b) you'll be an easy target - the low hanging fruit and c) you'd need lots of lube. If you do something which is purely to gain a tax advantage, then Hector will come and get you. And living in a house your company owns will stick out like a sore thumb.

[scooterscot]

You'd be amazed what pleasures you can buy with your Limited company's funds.

[SueEllen]

I actually moved it there.

Then changed my mind and returned it here.

Yeah reasons been explained.

[cojak]

This thread should be in accounting/legal NOT General.

I actually moved it there.

Then changed my mind and returned it here.

[woohoo]

Well you seem a well adjusted, sane person. I think you should buy your house using your limited company.

Let us know how you get on.

[TheFaQQer]

Other considerations:
Inheritance. In case of my death, who would inherit company shares and this way also the deeds to the house?

Whoever you leave it to, or if you die intestate then whoever inherits under those rules.

If you're worried about it, leave the shares in the company to another company - for a small fee, I'll let you use mine.

[northernladuk]

This thread should be in accounting/legal NOT General.

Nope. Fantasy threads belong in General.

[SueEllen]

This thread should be in accounting/legal NOT General.