Our services for your UK LTD
Forming an LTD online is easy. Building a structure that holds up legally, fiscally and operationally is another matter.
The Horizon Founder supports founders living abroad in forming, running and optimising their UK Limited Company. No unrealistic promises. A clear framework, obligations owned, and long-term follow-up.
End-to-end support, not just paperwork
Most incorporators form your LTD online and disappear. You end up alone facing a bank that refuses your application, Companies House obligations nobody explained, and taxes you suffer instead of steering.
Our approach is different. We step in upstream to structure your project correctly, and we stay downstream to handle the ongoing obligations. Legal formation, addresses, account opening, accounting, tax compliance, optimisation: everything is integrated in a single €4,000/year subscription.
We don't sell dreams. If the UK LTD isn't the right structure for your situation, we tell you. If your project carries tax risks, we flag them before starting. That level of frankness is what makes the difference in a premium service.
UK LTD Formation
Forming an LTD isn't just filling in a £50 form on Companies House. It's choosing the right setup based on your business, your country of residence and your tax goals, getting serious legal addresses and laying down a strategy from day one.
An LTD can be 100% owned by a non-resident, with no minimum capital, corporation tax of 19% up to £50,000 and no withholding tax on dividends. Formed in 48 hours, it gives you instant credibility with clients, banks and platforms.
Opening the bank account is systematically blocker number one for non-residents. We guarantee it: Wise, Revolut Business, Tide, Payoneer or WorldFirst depending on your profile, with a systematic backup plan if an application stalls.
Who is it for?
- Founders living abroad with international clients
- Freelancers and consultants who want a credible structure
- E-commerce founders who need Stripe, PayPal and Amazon
- Entrepreneurs who want to steer their taxes from day one
What's included
- Strategy session and setup recommendation
- Legal formation (Memorandum & Articles, KYC)
- Companies House incorporation in 48h
- Registered office and service address
- Guaranteed bank account opening, backup plan included
- HMRC tax registration
What's NOT included
- Personalised legal advice (contract law, disputes)
- Sector-specific licences (regulated finance, insurance)
- Formal tax advice in your country of residence (we coordinate with a local adviser if needed)
Common mistakes to avoid
Forming your LTD with a low-cost incorporator. The company is formed in ten minutes, then nobody's there. No accounting, no banking, no compliance: penalties arrive within the first year.
Opening the company before securing the bank. We've seen companies formed that could never collect a payment. We validate banking feasibility upfront and guarantee the opening.
Ignoring your country of residence's obligations. Forming an LTD doesn't remove your tax obligations at home. The tax treaty and your local filings must be anticipated from the start.
Accounting and annual management
Every LTD must file annual accounts with Companies House, a CT600 return with HMRC and a confirmation statement. It's not optional, it's a legal obligation, with automatic penalties for delays.
Depending on your activity, add VAT (mandatory above £90,000 of UK turnover, managed via Making Tax Digital) and payroll (PAYE) if you pay yourself a director's salary.
We don't just do bookkeeping. We make sure your accounts reflect your activity correctly, your returns are optimised within the law, and you never miss a deadline.
Who is it for?
- Every LTD registered with Companies House
- Founders who want to delegate the admin
- Structures with regular reporting obligations
What's included
- Full multi-currency bookkeeping
- Annual accounts filed with Companies House
- CT600 return filed with HMRC
- Annual confirmation statement
- VAT returns (Making Tax Digital) and PAYE if needed
- Dashboards and permanent visibility
What's NOT included
- Formal tax advice in your country of residence
- External audit (rarely required, coordinated if needed)
- Complex group legal restructuring
Common mistakes to avoid
Not keeping books in year one thinking "it can wait". Companies House and HMRC penalties are real, and catching up a year of entries costs more than keeping them.
Confusing home-country accounting with UK standards. The standards are different. A French accountant won't necessarily know the UK specifics: FRS, Making Tax Digital, the PSC register.
Missing the Corporation Tax payment. It's due 9 months and 1 day after year-end, before the CT600 deadline itself. Many discover it with the late interest.
Advanced structures
When the LTD is no longer enough, we design the architecture that complements it: a holding to centralise your shareholdings, a Mauritius company for international business, a US LLC for the American ecosystem, a Hong Kong Limited for Asia, a trust for wealth.
Each building block must have economic reality and a clear justification. It requires documented flows, contracts between entities and full compliance in every jurisdiction.
We structure holdings, multi-country architectures and wealth vehicles. Always within the law. Always with substance. If a structure isn't justified in your situation, we advise against it.
Who is it for?
- The Horizon Founder clients whose business is scaling
- Multi-country groups needing a central holding
- Founders with assets to protect or a succession to prepare
- Activities justifying a dedicated building block (US, Asia, international)
What's included
- Relevance analysis: is the structure justified?
- Target architecture design and comparative analysis
- Entity formation and account openings
- Contracts between structures and documentation
- Compliance in every jurisdiction
- Ongoing follow-up and adaptation
What's NOT included
- Formal tax advice in your country of residence (we coordinate)
- Aggressive setups or structures without real substance
- Structures aimed solely at hiding income
Common mistakes to avoid
Creating an empty shell and calling it a "holding". Without substance and real activity, your structure will be requalified at the next tax audit. We refuse those setups.
Ignoring your country's CFC rules. Most countries have anti-abuse rules (Controlled Foreign Corporation). Your country of residence remains central to any architecture: we build with it, not against it.
Underestimating documentation. Transfer pricing, intercompany agreements, minutes: everything must be documented. Not "roughly". Precisely.
Tax optimisation
Legally reducing an LTD's taxes rests on three levers: the salary/dividend mix, your country of residence's tax treaty, and the optimisation review before every year-end (investments, expenses, provisions).
A director's salary is deductible from the LTD's profit; dividends carry no UK withholding tax. The right balance depends on your country of residence and is calculated with real numbers at onboarding, then revised every year.
Depending on the profile, the total tax burden can become very low, sometimes 0%. It's neither automatic nor universal: it's verified case by case. We tell you honestly what's possible, and what isn't.
Who is it for?
- Founders with an LTD generating profits
- Expats in low-tax countries (UAE, certain regimes in Portugal...)
- Mobile profiles who change country of residence
- Founders who want taxes they steer, not suffer
What's included
- Onboarding tax session, with real numbers
- Salary/dividend mix calibrated to your tax treaty
- PAYE setup and dividend calendar
- Optimisation review before every year-end
- Quantified recommendations to approve
- Annual strategy revision
What's NOT included
- Personal tax filings in your country of residence (we tell you what to declare, a local adviser can produce them)
- A universal 0% promise: the result depends on your profile
- Concealment schemes of any kind
Common mistakes to avoid
Paying yourself without a strategy. All dividends or all salary, without a calculation: either way you almost always pay too much. The right mix is calculated from your tax treaty.
Thinking an LTD means automatic zero tax. The LTD pays its tax in the UK, and your dividends are taxed under your country of residence's rules. 0% exists for some profiles; it gets verified, not decreed.
Waiting until year-end to think about tax. Once the year is closed, most levers are lost. Optimisation happens before the close: that's the whole point of the annual review.
When the UK LTD makes sense
You live abroad with international clients
Dubai, Bali, Portugal or elsewhere: you invoice clients in several countries and need a credible structure aligned with your tax residence. That's exactly the profile where the LTD excels.
You need Stripe, PayPal and the platforms
The LTD gives full access to the online payments ecosystem. For an e-commerce founder or digital services seller, it's often reason number one to form the structure.
You want to steer your taxes
Salary/dividend mix, tax treaty, pre-year-end review: the LTD offers real optimisation levers, sometimes down to 0% depending on your profile and country of residence.
You're aiming for advanced structures eventually
Holding, Mauritius company, US LLC, Hong Kong: the LTD is the first building block of an architecture that grows with you. Our clients get priority access.
You want a stable, English-speaking business environment
English law recognised everywhere, a respected public register, institutional stability: the LTD inspires trust in your clients, banks and partners.
When the UK LTD is NOT the right fit
We'd rather tell you now than let you pay for a year of support only to discover it serves no purpose.
You're just getting started
Full support at €4,000/year isn't worth it below a certain income level. Grow your business first, the LTD will wait for you.
You live and work only in your home country
If you remain a tax resident at home with no international clients or plans to move, the LTD won't change your taxes. A local structure is simpler.
You're looking for a setup to "vanish" from the tax radar
The UK is transparent: a public register and automatic information exchange (CRS). Your country of residence will know you have a structure. And that's not what we do.
You're not ready to get minimally involved
We do the maximum, but your involvement remains necessary: documents to provide, decisions to approve, recommendations to validate.
What's possible (and what isn't)
Every situation is different. Here are five typical profiles to illustrate what we can do, and the limits.
Freelance developer, €120k/year, US and European clients
Situation : Based in Dubai, invoicing clients in the US, UK and Germany from his personal account. No structure, limited credibility.
What we can do : LTD formed in 48h, multi-currency Wise account, full accounting, 100% dividend remuneration. UAE residence: 0% personal tax on dividends, UK corporation tax reduced by the pre-year-end review.
What we can NOT do : Make UK corporation tax disappear: the LTD pays its tax in the UK on its profits. The optimisation is real, but within the law.
E-commerce founder, dropshipping, €300k revenue
Situation : Based in Bali, selling in Europe via Shopify. Payments blocked: Stripe refuses his personal account.
What we can do : UK LTD with full Stripe and PayPal access, EU VAT handled via OSS/IOSS, structured e-commerce accounting.
What we can NOT do : Avoid EU VAT on sales to EU consumers. Since OSS/IOSS, VAT is due in the consumer's country regardless of the structure.
International consultant, clients in 5 countries, €200k revenue
Situation : Nomad between Lisbon, Dubai and Asia. Invoices through platforms that take an 8% cut.
What we can do : UK LTD as a single invoicing base, clean contracts, salary/dividend mix calibrated to his tax residence, 7/7 support.
What we can NOT do : Ignore his personal tax residence: the country he lives in remains decisive for the taxation of his income. The strategy is built around it, not against it.
Digital agency, remote team of 10, €500k revenue
Situation : Founder based in Mauritius, freelance team across three continents, US and UK clients.
What we can do : UK LTD to contract with English-speaking clients, consolidated accounting, structured freelancer payments, holding considered in year 2.
What we can NOT do : Employ the freelancers through the LTD without following the rules of the countries where they work. Each team member must be engaged under local law.
Expat who wants a clean slate
Situation : French entrepreneur based in the UAE, €150k revenue, scattered setup: dormant micro-company, mixed personal account, no advice.
What we can do : Clean UK LTD, full strategy session, coordinated closure of obsolete structures, guaranteed banking, taxes aligned with his UAE residence.
What we can NOT do : Advise alone on French exit tax: we coordinate with a French tax lawyer when the file requires it.
Guides and resources to go further
Our in-depth articles to understand UK LTDs before you start.
Frequently asked questions about our services
No. The entire process is done remotely in 48h: formation, legal addresses, banking, accounting. No travel is ever needed, neither at formation nor for day-to-day management.
An online incorporator registers a company. Full stop. At The Horizon Founder, we structure your project: a tax strategy based on your country of residence, serious legal addresses, guaranteed banking (the hardest part for a non-resident), full accounting and an optimisation review every year. The price reflects an outsourced tax department, not form-filling.
48 hours for the Companies House incorporation. A few more days for the bank account, whose opening is guaranteed with a systematic backup plan. Within one to two weeks, everything is operational: company, addresses, banking, accounting and tax strategy.
No, and that's precisely its strength. The UK is a G7 member, never blacklisted, respected by every bank and administration. Your LTD pays its corporation tax in the UK; the optimisation comes from the remuneration structure and your country of residence, within a fully legal framework. If your goal is to hide money, we're not the right people.
For every LTD: annual accounts with Companies House, a CT600 return with HMRC, a confirmation statement, and depending on the activity, VAT and PAYE. We handle all of it in the subscription, plus the optimisation review before every year-end.
We build your country of residence into the strategy (tax treaty, dividend taxation) and tell you precisely what you need to declare there. For the local filings themselves or complex cases, we coordinate with a local tax adviser from our network.
It's the classic blocker for non-residents, which is exactly why we guarantee it. We build the file, target the right institution (Wise, Revolut, Tide, Payoneer, WorldFirst) and always keep a backup plan. Account open within days in most cases.
Not necessarily. It depends on your situation: sometimes both coexist during the transition, sometimes we coordinate a clean closure. It's covered in the strategy session, in coordination with your local advisers if needed.
We work on the basis of a clear contract with defined deliverables. If a deliverable isn't up to standard, we fix it. We don't make promises we can't keep: hence the initial strategy call, which validates that the LTD is the right option before you commit. No hidden fees, no surprises.
Yes. Our clients are international: French, Belgian, Swiss and English-speaking founders based in Dubai, Asia, Portugal and beyond. We work in French and English. The only condition: your project must have a real economic basis, and the LTD must be the right structure for you.
What if your tax bill dropped to 0%?
Depending on your country of residence and your profile, a well-structured UK LTD can bring your taxes down to the legal minimum, sometimes 0%. Book a strategy call, no commitment: we'll tell you with real numbers.