Incorporation ― overview

Produced by Tolley in association with Rob Durrant-Walker of Crane Dale Tax, part of AMS Group
Owner-Managed Businesses
Guidance

Incorporation ― overview

Produced by Tolley in association with Rob Durrant-Walker of Crane Dale Tax, part of AMS Group
Owner-Managed Businesses
Guidance
imgtext

Many businesses commence in an unincorporated form as a sole trade or a partnership. Start-ups benefit from the simplicity and low administration provided by an unincorporated structure. Relief for opening years’ losses are also significantly more favourable for sole traders and new partners. Even once a business has become established, operating in an unincorporated form has benefits and may continue to suit the proprietor(s) indefinitely.

However, there is a distinct path for growing businesses whereby incorporation becomes a natural step.

Key reasons to incorporate

The key reasons in favour of incorporation tend to be:

  1. limited liability allowing the mitigation of commercial risks against personal assets

  2. tax mitigation (mainly, to the extent to which profits are retained/reinvested in the company)

  3. flexibility over income in respect of the timing and form of remuneration

  4. a greater ease of attracting external investment ― for instance certain tax reliefs are only available to companies, see the Calculating the tax benefits of incorporation guidance note

  5. prestige value

Limited

Continue reading the full document
To gain access to additional expert tax guidance, workflow tools, generative tax AI, and tax research, register for a free trial of Tolley+™
Rob Durrant-Walker
Rob Durrant-Walker linkedinicon twittericon

Tax Director at Crane Dale Tax , Corporate Tax, OMB, Personal Tax


Rob is a cross-tax advisor with a particular focus on property tax planning, and business structure planning for OMB’s. He provides tax advice to other accounting firms, balancing commerciality, ethics, and understanding complexity. His 30+ years of experience start at the Inland Revenue in Hull. After completing his ATT and CTA by 1999 with PKF, he subsequently worked at KPMG and UHY prior to managing the business tax team as a director at Garbutt + Elliott. Rob is now Tax Director at the independent tax consultancy, Crane Dale Tax. He is a regular author for Taxation magazine with many articles and Readers Forum contributions since 2005, and he contributes as a virtual member to the CIOT Property Tax technical committee. Rob works remotely from Vancouver in Canada.

Powered by Tolley+

Popular Articles

Gifts out of surplus income

Gifts out of surplus incomeA valuable exemption from inheritance tax (IHT) applies to gifts out of surplus income. This exemption applies only to lifetime gifts and is therefore a key part of lifetime planning. The exemption applies to both outright gifts and gifts into trust. Gifts which meet the

14 Jul 2020 11:48 | Produced by Tolley in association with Emma Haley at Boodle Hatfield LLP Read more Read more

Taxation of dividend income

Taxation of dividend incomeIntroductionA dividend is a distribution of profit by a company to its shareholders.A dividend is not only a payment in cash. It can be the issue of new shares in exchange for forfeiting the right to a cash payment (a stock dividend). For more detail, see the Cash

14 Jul 2020 13:48 | Produced by Tolley Read more Read more

Winding up a trust ― legal, administrative and compliance issues

Winding up a trust ― legal, administrative and compliance issuesOverviewWhen winding up a trust, there are legal formalities and compliance issues that need to be dealt with, as well as IHT and CGT consequences that flow from the termination. This guidance note considers when and how a trust comes

14 Jul 2020 14:01 | Produced by Tolley Read more Read more