Non-French EU citizen, Profession libérale in France, 100% director of UK Ltd

Gonzalo

27 Jun 2020 at 19:54 · Viewed 693 times

Hello,

- I am a non-French, non-UK EU citizen. I have been living in France for 10 years. I set up an autoentreprise first in 2012, then shut it down and opened it again in 2014. I have changed the activity of my AE a few times. Since 2017, having earned a new degree, I am working as profession libérale, using my French AE. Through the 10 years that I have been living in France, I have occasionally also had CDD’s/CDI contracts. My AE only took off properly after the 3rd semester of 2019.

Parallelly to this, in 2015 (when I briefly lived in the UK), I also set up a UK Ltd, of which I am 100% director. This company ran a separate activity, with clients worldwide. Having come back to France, I reported the dividends (which were low enough not to have to pay taxes in the UK) on my French tax returns: I declared them on the form 2047 (8VM). For my UK Ltd, my official address as a director is in France.

(1) My first question: was this the right course of action (as per the tax returns)? If not, should I do anything about it retroactively?

- In 2020, I changed the name and the activity of my UK Ltd and I am intending to use it to develop a global activity with clients across Europe, and potentially the world. The new activity of my UK company (consulting) is closer to what the activity of my AE in France is than it was the case before, but the two can still be kept separate. However, it would be potentially good to have an EU entity for my UK Ltd when trading with EU-based companies.

(2) My second question is: If I’m running my UK Ltd remotely, while I’m based in France and if the activity of my French AE and my UK Ltd remain distinct, how shall I pay the taxes on my Ltd’s dividends? And what about my Director’s salary?

(3) When I am expanding the activity of my UK company, and if I would like to create a presence for it in the EU (France), what is the right course of action? Could I use my AE as a filiale? Or should I set up a succursale?

Thank you in advance!

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