UK based - Hiding PSC/Directorship of LTD using offshore?

[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

 

[Sols]

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?

Adding an offshore company as director or shareholder won't prevent you from being PSC. PSC was designed specifically because people were doing what you're proposing. A PSC is someone (a person, not a company - you) who has significant control over the company. Doesn't matter how many exotic companies you put between yourself and the company.

Having an offshore company as sole shareholder and sitting on the board of directors (alongside a mandatory additional natural person) is going to really, really lower your chances of getting a UK business bank account. Expect rejection, unless your overall business case is extremely attractive.

There are solutions and you are better off exploring them with a suitable international tax adviser and law firm. You will need to stop being a PSC, so you won't have as much day to day control of the business as you may wish.

5) Also, what are darks?

Documents with stolen, synthetic, or bought identities. Not legal.

 

[JVD United Kingdom]

Thank you so much!

If I am just looking to add a layer of privacy then how would I go about doing that?

If I use UK-based nominee shareholder/director for my company (assuming I bought a shelf company and did not incorporate it myself), will I be visible on the public register/searchable database?

 

[TacitusKilgore]

I'm afraid the level of privacy you want for a UK company is simply not possible by following the law properly. You would need to incorporate elsewhere.

You are suggesting using a nominee director/shareholder to get around PSC. However, the legislation is specifically written to pick up yourself as a PSC even if you're using a nominee director and shareholder. You still indirectly control the UK company. Sure, you can put down the nominee director/shareholder as the PSC but you're not actually complying with the law because you still control the company, even though it's indirectly.