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The UK is the leader of foreign investment in Europe. The UK is a hotbed of activity for foreign investment in Europe, especially from American companies. The UK offers vast business opportunities for investors. Low labor costs and high returns make it an attractive investment destination.
Population: | 60.8 million |
Form of government: | Unitary parliamentary constitutional monarchy |
Official & spoken languages: | English (spoken Scots, Welsh, Cornish, Gaelic) |
Currency: | Sterling Pound £ |
Time zone: | UTC 0 |
GDP (PPP): | $ 2.548 trillion |
GDP (PPP)/per capita: | $ 39,762 |
Public debt: | £1.56 trillion (82% of GDP) |
Average salary: | £26.500/year |
Unemployment: | 5.2% |
Major trading partners: | US ($66.5 billion), Germany ($46.4 billion), Switzerland ($32.2 billion), China ($27.4 billion), France ($27 billion), Netherlands ($26.6 billion) |
Disadvantages
Novasigma has published an annual BFE-E (Business Friendliness Environment – Europe) -index for 2017. European economies are ranked from 1-51 based on their business friendliness. The rankings are determined by sorting the aggregate distance to frontier scores on 20 topics each consisting of several indicators, giving equal weight to each topic. The rankings for all countries and economies are bench-marked to January 2017
UNITED KINGDOM – OVERALL RANK 2017: 1st (Europe) | 81/100 points |
1. Ease of incorporation process (bureaucracy, costs, time frame) | 5/5 points |
2. Privacy level of shareholders and investors | 5/5 points |
3. Privacy level of company directors and signatories | 3/5 points |
4. Availability of the private equity funding | 5/5 points |
5. Availability of the public and / or bank sector financing instruments | 3/5 points |
6. Reputation of the country (trading across borders with a company registered in this country) | 5/5 points |
7. Easiness of recruiting professional staff (professionalism, average pay, protection against dismissal) | 4/5 points |
8. Easiness of getting business premises (price, availability) | 4/5 points |
9. Suitability for production of physical products | 3/5 points |
10. Suitability for producing services | 5/5 points |
11. Size of the home market B2C (population and purchasing power) | 5/5 points |
12. Size of the home market B2B and public sector purchasing services from local businesses | 4/5 points |
13. Exporting physical products (markets nearby, logistics and toll) | 3/5 points |
14. Exporting services | 5/5 points |
15. Immaterial rights (compared to other countries) | 5/5 points |
16. The level bureaucracy or corruption during business operations | 3/5 points |
17. Company taxation | 4/5 points |
18. Dividend taxation, withholding taxes and tax treaties | 5/5 points |
19. Easiness of selling a business | 3/5 points |
20. Easiness of closing down a company | 2/5 points |
Overall rank 2016: | rank 6th (change in rank: 0) |
– Starting a business: | rank 17 (average processing time 4.5 days) |
– Dealing with construction permits: | rank 23 (average processing time 105 days) |
– Getting electricity: | rank 15 (average installation time 79 days) |
– Registering property: | rank 45 (average processing time 21.5 days) |
– Getting credit: | rank 19 |
– Protecting minority investors: | rank 4 |
– Paying taxes: | rank 15 (average company tax from profits 32%, average time used for taxation 110 hours per year) |
– Trading across borders | rank 38 |
– Enforcing contract: | rank 33 (average 510 days, average cost from standing amount 43.9%) |
– Resolving Insolvency: | rank 13 (Average time processing bankruptcy: 1.0 years) |
New businesses registered in 2015: 537,658 new limited liability companies
Who can start a new business in the UK:
Who can own property or shares of the UK company:
Who can act as a director or member of the board:
Business entities in the UK
Opening a bank account for a UK company:
Public register of shareholders, directors or signatories:
Accounting and reporting regulations in the UK:
How funds can be withdrawn from company
Can you transfer UK company to another jurisdiction?
How to terminate business in UK?
Expats moving to the UK do so for various reasons. Whatever your motivation may be, your move to the UK holds the advantage that you won’t need to learn a new language from scratch. InterNations has lots of useful information on moving to the UK, from life in London to UK visa regulations.
Many of its characteristics make moving to the UK an attractive option. As a business destination, the United Kingdom, composed of England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland, has one major asset which outweighs its counterparts in other European countries with similar living standards and working conditions: the language. After all, English is the international language of business and trade taught in schools across the globe.
The UK is a densely populated country, with a considerable share of its roughly 64.5 million people living in the south of the UK. Just over 80% of the UK’s population consists of city dwellers. Great parts of Scotland and Northern Ireland are less urbanized and less affluent leading to people leaving for the UK’s southern regions.
London — The Center of Everything
The country’s capital, with 8.6 million inhabitants being by far the largest city in the UK, is the seat of the national government. It is also the leading financial and commercial center of the EU: in 2014 London hosted 40 percent of the European headquarters of top companies worldwide.London is truly multi-cultural with people moving to the UK’s capital from all over the world, and generally an exciting place to be. Its vibrant arts and entertainment scene caters to all tastes, from classical to popular, mainstream to fringe, and from retro to avant-garde. Needless to say, the party animal in you will not be disappointed.
Despite its size, London’s green spaces make it quite a pleasant place to live. The soaring prices for property, however, are one of the reasons why many families — even those with an above-average income — prefer to live in the suburbs of Greater London when moving to the UK.
Overall rank 2016: | 35th (64/100 points) |
– Property rights: | 90/100 points |
– Freedom from taxes: | 57/100 points |
– Freedom of speech/religion: | 94/100 points |
– Limited government: | 30/100 points |
– Gun rights: | 15/100 points |
– Drug rights: | 45/100 points |
– Freedom from corruption: | 76/100 points |
– Freedom from inflation: | 74/100 points |
– Business freedom: | 92/100 points |
Residence – A company is UK resident if it is incorporated in the UK or its place of central management and control is in the UK
Basis – A UK resident company is subject to corporation tax on worldwide profits and gains, with credit given for overseas taxes paid. Foreign profits and losses (including those from certain capital assets) arising from a permanent establishment (PE) of a UK resident company may be excluded by making an irrevocable election. The effect of the election may be deferred where the PE has incurred a loss. Anti-diversion rules based on the CFC rules may restrict the profits that can be excluded from the charge to UK tax by virtue of the election. A non-resident company is subject to tax only in respect of UK-source profits, which include the income of a UK PE of the nonresident, income and certain gains from UK real estate, certain UK-source interest income and gains on assets used for purposes of a PE’s trade.
Taxable income: | 20% / 25% / 28% |
Taxation of dividends: | 0%/20% |
VAT registration: | Registration is mandatory for all taxpayers that carry out transactions in the UK VAT territory |
– VAT Rates: | 20%, reduced rates of 5% and 0% |
Withholding tax (general): | 0% |
– From Dividends | 0% |
– From Royalties | 0% / 20% |
– From Interests | 0% / 20% |
– Technical services | – |
Transfer tax: | See stamp duty |
Capital gains tax: | Treated as ordinary business income taxable by rate 20% (Exemption available) |
Real property tax: | The national non-domestic rate is payable by occupiers or business premises. |
Social security: | “General risk” contributions represent 28.3% of an employee’s wages, with the employer paying 23.6% and the employee paying 6.35% |
Payroll tax: | No |
Stamp duty: | 0.5% applies on the transfer of UK shares and is payable by the transferee |
Capital duty: | No |
Tax treaties: | Up to 100 countries |
CFC (Controlled Foreign Company) rule: | Yes |
Other: | The ATED is an annual tax charge that applies where companies and certain other entities own UK residential property valued more than GPB 1 million. Shipping companies may elect to pay tonnage tax in lieu of the normal corporation tax. |
Compliance for corporations:
Tax authorities: HM Revenue & Customs
Personal taxation basis:
Tax Residence:
Filling status:
Income tax rates in the UK
Income: | Rates: |
up to GBP 31,785 | 20% (effective rate on dividends of 0%) |
up to GBP 31,786 – 150,000 | 40% (effective rate on dividends of 25%) |
over GBP 150,000 | 45% (effective rate on dividends of 30.6% |
Social security payments in the UK:
Inheritance/estate tax in the UK:
Net wealth/net worth tax in the UK:
Compliance for individuals in the UK:
For corporations operating in UK
For individuals and families interested in UK
For individuals and families who hold the UK residency
In cases KYC or/and Due Diligence process required Novasigma requires a personal meeting with all its new clients before proceeding any assignment
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