UK limited company for non-residents: who can open one, what it costs and how it's taxed (2026)

Yes. You don't need to live in the UK to open a UK private limited company. GOV.UK says a director must be 16 or over and that directors don't have to live in the UK, but the company must have a physical UK registered office address. Registering online costs £100 and usually takes 24 hours. The company then pays UK corporation tax at 19% to 25% on its profits. The harder parts for a non-resident are getting a UK business bank account and making sure your home country doesn't tax the company, or you, in ways you didn't plan for.

This guide uses GOV.UK, Companies House, HMRC and UK legislation, checked on 28 October 2026. If you're still choosing a country, start with where to incorporate as a remote founder.

Who can be a director and shareholder

A private limited company needs at least one director and, if it's limited by shares, at least one shareholder. The GOV.UK guide to setting up a limited company sets the rules:

• Directors must be 16 or over and "do not have to live in the UK". Their names and personal information are public, and each director gives a service address, which is also public.
• Shareholders can be directors. A company "can have one shareholder who owns the whole company and acts as its only director", and there's no maximum number of shareholders.
• A company secretary isn't required for a private limited company.

So a solo founder living in Bali, Lisbon or Sydney can be the only director and the only shareholder of a UK company.

The UK registered office address

This is the one rule you can't meet from abroad on your own. The registered office must be "a physical address in the UK", in the same UK country the company is registered in (a company registered in Scotland needs a Scottish address). It must also be "appropriate": someone acting for the company must be made aware of post delivered there, and a sender must be able to get confirmation of delivery.

You can no longer use a Royal Mail PO Box or a similar service from another company. GOV.UK says you can use an accountant's or solicitor's address with their permission, or appoint an agent who gives you an address. The address is public on the register, and a company that doesn't have a compliant one "could be struck off". You also have to give a registered email address, which isn't published.

Identity verification and people with significant control

Since 18 November 2025, identity verification has been a legal requirement for directors and people with significant control (PSCs), with a 12-month transition period for companies to make sure all directors and PSCs have verified by their due dates, according to Companies House.

For a non-resident, the useful detail is the list of accepted ID: you can verify online with GOV.UK One Login using a "biometric passport from any country". You can also ask an Authorised Corporate Service Provider (an accountant, solicitor or formation agent registered with Companies House) to verify you. You get a personal code, and when you register a new company you're asked for each director's code as part of the filing, according to the Companies House timing guidance.

A PSC is usually anyone who has more than 25% of the shares or voting rights, can appoint or remove a majority of directors, or can otherwise influence or control the company, according to the PSC guidance. You record their nationality, country of residence, service address and home address (the home address isn't disclosed), and the band of their shares and votes: over 25% up to 50%, more than 50% and less than 75%, or 75% or more. Changes must be reported within 14 days. A founder who owns 100% is both a director and a PSC, and provides the personal code separately for each role.

What it costs to set up and keep

These are the official fees, from the Companies House fees page and GOV.UK's guides. They don't include a registered office service or an accountant, which non-residents usually pay for.

When you register online you're usually set up for Corporation Tax at the same time. If you register another way, you add Corporation Tax to your business tax account and HMRC posts an activation code to the registered office within 10 days, or 21 days if you live abroad. GOV.UK says the registered office is where all HMRC letters are sent, so your address service has to forward them to you.

Yearly filing deadlines

GOV.UK's accounts and tax returns guide lists the main deadlines:

The running a limited company guide says you can be fined up to £5,000 and struck off for not filing a confirmation statement, and fined £3,000 by HMRC or disqualified as a director for not keeping accounting records. Records must be kept for 6 years from the end of the last financial year they relate to.

How a UK company is taxed

Corporation tax. GOV.UK's rates page says the main rate is 25% for profits over £250,000 and the small profits rate is 19% for profits of £50,000 or less. Between £50,000 and £250,000 you may be entitled to Marginal Relief, which HMRC describes as "a gradual increase" from the small profits rate to the main rate. The thresholds are cut for accounting periods shorter than 12 months and divided by the number of associated companies: with 3 other associated companies, the limits become £12,500 and £62,500. HMRC's Marginal Relief page also says a non-UK resident company can't claim it.

What gets taxed. A company that's UK resident for tax "pays Corporation Tax on all its profits from the UK and abroad", according to the GOV.UK Corporation Tax overview. That includes profit from customers outside the UK.

VAT. You must register for VAT if taxable turnover for the last 12 months goes over £90,000, or you expect it to go over £90,000 in the next 30 days, according to Register for VAT. If you've gone over, you register within 30 days of the end of that month. You can register voluntarily below the threshold.

Residence: why where you run it from still matters

Under section 14 of the Corporation Tax Act 2009, "a company which is incorporated in the United Kingdom is UK resident for the purposes of the Corporation Tax Acts". So a UK company you run from Indonesia is still a UK tax resident company as far as the UK is concerned.

The UK also has a case law test, used for companies incorporated elsewhere: central management and control. HMRC's INTM120060 quotes the case law rule that a company resides "where the central management and control actually abides", and says it's "primarily a question of fact" about who exercises the highest level of control. Your home country may apply a similar test. INTM120100 says a company resident in the UK may also be resident in another country "by reason of that country's domestic law", which makes it dual resident.

When that happens, a tax treaty's tie-breaker decides. HMRC's INTM120070 says HMRC now considers that all of the UK's treaties include a residence tie-breaker for companies, and section 18 of the same Act says a company that a treaty treats as resident elsewhere is non-UK resident for corporation tax. Under the standard tie-breaker, the two tax authorities decide between them. INTM120085 lists factors they're likely to weigh, including where the company is incorporated, its place of central management and control, where its employees are based and where its business is carried on. Its first example is a company with only a "brass plate" in its country of incorporation and all its staff, directors and business in another country: there, the UK "would normally expect" the incorporation country to cede residence.

For a solo founder who makes every decision from home, that's the risk to take seriously: your home country may say the company is resident there too.

Taking money out

The running a limited company guide covers the three usual routes:

• Salary. The company must register as an employer and run PAYE, taking Income Tax and National Insurance from your pay. GOV.UK says you must register "even if you're only employing yourself", for example as the only director.
• Dividends. A company can only pay dividends out of available profits from current and previous years. You hold a directors' meeting to declare the dividend, keep minutes even if you're the only director, and write a dividend voucher. Dividends aren't a business cost for corporation tax.
• Directors' loans. Money you take that isn't salary or a dividend is a directors' loan, and the company must keep records of it.

For UK Income Tax, Tax on dividends gives a £500 dividend allowance and rates of 10.75% (basic), 35.75% (higher) and 39.35% (additional) for 6 April 2026 to 5 April 2027. If you live abroad, those rates aren't the whole story. GOV.UK's page on tax on UK income if you live abroad says the country where you live might tax you on your UK income, and that if it has a double taxation agreement with the UK you can claim relief in the UK to avoid being taxed twice. How a dividend or salary from your UK company is taxed in the end depends on your home country's rules and its treaty with the UK.

Getting a UK business bank account from abroad

GOV.UK says company banking must be separate from your personal banking and tells you to check with your bank which account you can use. For non-residents this is often the hardest step. On the banks' own pages, checked on 28 October 2026:

• Starling says you must be "based in the UK to apply", and that all PSCs and all directors with account access must be "residents of the United Kingdom".
• HSBC UK lists "Hold UK tax residency" as a condition for its Business Banking Account.
• Tide says you can apply from outside the UK "as long as you have a UK residential address, a UK phone number" and are a director of a company registered with Companies House, and that additional checks may apply.

Check a bank's eligibility page before you register, not after. Our guide to business accounts for remote founders covers the wider options.

Your home country can still tax it

A UK company doesn't change where you are tax resident as a person, and your home country decides how it treats your income from the company. Two rules to ask about before you register:

• Company residence. As above, if you manage the company from home, your home country may treat it as resident there too.
• Controlled foreign company (CFC) rules. Many countries have rules that can tax residents on the profits of a foreign company they control, even if the profits stay in the company. Whether yours does, and at what threshold, is a question for an adviser in your home country.

Our tax residency guide explains personal residency.

Is a UK company right for you, or a US LLC?

The US column is from the IRS pages on LLCs and Form 5472. For state fees, formation services and banks, read our US LLC guide for non-US founders. With either, the home-country questions above still apply, which is why a company where you live is often the simpler answer.

Checklist before you register

1. Confirm with an adviser in your home country how it will treat a UK company you run from there.
2. Pick a bank and check its eligibility page for non-resident directors.
3. Arrange a UK registered office address that meets the GOV.UK rules, with mail forwarding.
4. Verify your identity with GOV.UK One Login, using a biometric passport, or through an authorised agent.
5. Register online for £100 and set up Corporation Tax at the same time.
6. Diary the confirmation statement, accounts and Company Tax Return deadlines.

Setting up a company across borders is easier when you can ask people who've done it. Remote Builders members compare company structures, banks and accountants with other founders who work from anywhere.