New here - apologies if I sound stupid

[JVD United Kingdom]

Hi all,

I've been trying to absorb all the wisdom from this forum, first off, big thanks to those who are contributing, as someone who is new to all this, this has been groundbreaking!

I am based in London, United Kingdom, and this is my situation:

I want to create an LTD company in which I will not be visibly the owner/director/PSC - that is, I do not want to be found easily on company house/endole/paid corporate credit check or from their company reports you buy.

I am thinking of setting an offshore company which I (personally) own and this offshore company will own the mentioned UK LTD company in the UK and be the registered director. The director of the offshore will probably need to be someone local or an agent of sorts unless the register is not public for anyone on the internet to easily find - but I am not sure if that line of thinking is correct.

I am not trying to do anything illegal here, just privacy and if the UK and whichever authorities want to know who the ultimate owner is, that is completely fine. I am just trying to protect my privacy and identity with an added layer from those savvy enough to do a quick google search.

1) Which jurisdiction is best for this? And is there an actual term for what I am looking for?
2) How do you go about setting up a UK LTD using an offshore account as owner/director?
3) For the UK LTD, what is my "power" in the sense that, it is the offshore company who owns and is director of the company, what can I/cannot do, and is this going to be a problem when setting up a UK business bank account?
4) Is there anything I need to take into account, risks wise?
5) Also, what are darks?

Thank you so much for your help

 

[JohnLocke]

Welcome aboard, you should open threads with that title in the proper forum Welcome to the Offshore Company Forum

Anyway, let's see if you get any replies here.

 

[JVD United Kingdom]

Welcome aboard, you should open threads with that title in the proper forum Welcome to the Offshore Company Forum

Anyway, let's see if you get any replies here.

OK Will do that, thank you

 

[James Turner]

Hi all,

I've been trying to absorb all the wisdom from this forum, first off, big thanks to those who are contributing, as someone who is new to all this, this has been groundbreaking!

I am based in London, United Kingdom, and this is my situation:

I want to create an LTD company in which I will not be visibly the owner/director/PSC - that is, I do not want to be found easily on company house/endole/paid corporate credit check or from their company reports you buy.

I am thinking of setting an offshore company which I (personally) own and this offshore company will own the mentioned UK LTD company in the UK and be the registered director. The director of the offshore will probably need to be someone local or an agent of sorts unless the register is not public for anyone on the internet to easily find - but I am not sure if that line of thinking is correct.

I am not trying to do anything illegal here, just privacy and if the UK and whichever authorities want to know who the ultimate owner is, that is completely fine. I am just trying to protect my privacy and identity with an added layer from those savvy enough to do a quick google search.

1) Which jurisdiction is best for this? And is there an actual term for what I am looking for?
2) How do you go about setting up a UK LTD using an offshore account as owner/director?
3) For the UK LTD, what is my "power" in the sense that, it is the offshore company who owns and is director of the company, what can I/cannot do, and is this going to be a problem when setting up a UK business bank account?
4) Is there anything I need to take into account, risks wise?
5) Also, what are darks?

Thank you so much for your help

Hi,

Before you consider the best location for your offshore company to be created, it may be helpful to know that while the Offshore Company can act as Shareholder of the UK Company, it can also act as Director, but only where another physical individual also acts as Director. You will not be able to place the offshore company as the sole Director of a UK Ltd Company. Additionally the PSC Register will generally include all Shareholders of the Offshore shareholding company and if you are in control of the UK Company in any way, your details will also need to be included on the PSC Register. The latter point regarding PSC is particularly important if as you suggest you need to be involved in the banking of the UK Company, in whcih case you would definately need to appear on the PSC Register.

Personally I think you need to avoid the UK Company, but happy to discuss that with you.

 

[JVD United Kingdom]

Hi,

Before you consider the best location for your offshore company to be created, it may be helpful to know that while the Offshore Company can act as Shareholder of the UK Company, it can also act as Director, but only where another physical individual also acts as Director. You will not be able to place the offshore company as the sole Director of a UK Ltd Company. Additionally the PSC Register will generally include all Shareholders of the Offshore shareholding company and if you are in control of the UK Company in any way, your details will also need to be included on the PSC Register. The latter point regarding PSC is particularly important if as you suggest you need to be involved in the banking of the UK Company, in whcih case you would definately need to appear on the PSC Register.

Personally I think you need to avoid the UK Company, but happy to discuss that with you.

Wow, this is so informative - thank you so much

 

[JVD United Kingdom]

Just so I understand,

Assume I go ahead and create an offshore company (without a public register/searchable database), with a nominee director.

I then go on to create a UK LTD company using with the offshore as an owner, and I hire Coddan as nominee director or something, this won't work because I still need to disclose the owner of the offshore (me) when filing the PSC declaration for the UK LTD?

Is it better if I use the offshore company to buy a shelf company (with existing bank account) and then nominate the likes of Coddan as both the nominee shareholder and nominee director? Would that work?

Also, where does "power of attorney" come into this (though I may not fully understand it) and what are "darks"?

 

[JVD United Kingdom]

Just so I understand,

Assume I go ahead and create an offshore company (without a public register/searchable database), with a nominee director.

I then go on to create a UK LTD company using with the offshore as an owner, and I hire Coddan as nominee director or something, this won't work because I still need to disclose the owner of the offshore (me) when filing the PSC declaration for the UK LTD?

Is it better if I use the offshore company to buy a shelf company (with existing bank account) and then nominate the likes of Coddan as both the nominee shareholder and nominee director? Would that work?

Also, where does "power of attorney" come into this (though I may not fully understand it) and what are "darks"?

Also, what if the Offshore company has a person as nominee shareholder - would that traceback for PSC just go to him/her?

 

[James Turner]

Even if you create an offshore company to hold the shares of the UK Company and you appoint a Nominee Director on the offshore company. 1. You need to appoint a physical individual on the UK Company. It cannot only be a company acting as Director; 2. The Nominee will not normally act as a Nominee UBO and as such the company ultimately links back to you and will be followed all the way through the structure by any bank considering the case. This also means that you will be a PSC (a nominee is not in control in reality) and so should appear on the PSC Register.