Nominee Director Service
Our nominee director service is used to ensure the highest degree of privacy and confidentiality.
Under the law of some countries information on directors and/or shareholders must be registered in the public files of the Companies Registry. Therefore only by using nominee directors and/or shareholders can the client's anonymity and confidentiality be ensured.
Third party directors with residential status in a fiscally neutral country are used so that the offshore company cannot be considered resident for tax purposes and liable to tax at local rates on worldwide income in countries with onshore legislation.
The essence of a nominee service is that it is the names of the nominee directors and/or shareholders that are indicated in the corporate documentation, according to their designation. Thus the names of the company's beneficial owners are not disclosed to the Companies Registry, so that clients are ensured the utmost confidentiality.
At the same time the appointed nominees are not actually entitled to manage the company. We can provide the beneficial owner with a Power of Attorney empowering him to run the business, manage the company's activities and open and operate the company's bank accounts.
UK Data can now provide their clients with a UK corporate director service in relation to both UK and offshore registered companies.
There is a legitimate need for our reliable UK director service backed by knowledge of UK and international tax planning principles and company law.
Our UK director service will be of particular relevance to the following clients:
- UK Holding and Royalty Companies
- To come within the ambit of the UK’s double tax treaty network, it is normally essential that UK company is managed and controlled effectively from the UK (ie: is a tax resident of the UK for the purposes of a UK tax treaty). The UK’s double tax treaties provide UK companies beneficially entitled to dividend interest and royalty income with generous reliefs from foreign withholding taxes. Our UK director service provides a clear basis for claiming treaty relief on behalf of UK companies, even where such companies are foreign-owned.
Foreign registered Holding Companies and other Offshore Companies
For reasons of international tax planning it can sometimes be advantageous to migrate the residence of offshore companies or foreign-registered holding companies into the UK we can implement such procedures.
Commercial Confidentiality
Given that UK company law and the companies’ legislation of many other jurisdictions require the public disclosure of the identity of company directors, UK Data’s director service is made available to offer legitimate confidentiality. Our experience shows that there are two areas where confidentiality is often sought or required:
- For commercial reasons, the provision of certain services which may be in competition with existing customers.
- For reasons of personal security, protecting the identities of the parties who are the owners of or associated with valuable companies or other assets, and who may be vulnerable to crimes such as kidnap or extortion.
The basic function of the Nominee Director is to shield working executives of Limited and other companies from the public disclosure requirements that exist in the UK and other jurisdictions. It is a perfectly legal device which preserves the privacy of an individual.
It is designed to help a person who would rather not disclose their interest or association with a given corporate body. Anyone performing a Company Search on a company with a Nominee Director would be unable to discover in whose name the Nominee Director was registered.
There are however limitations to the function of the Nominee Director. The Nominee is a director of a company in name only and has no other powers or responsibilities.
The Nominee Director cannot and will not enter into any business contract or financial or moral commitment. The Nominee Director cannot sign any official forms or verify that any information provided to Government Agencies, including Tax Authorities, is correct.
Since the address of the Nominee Director will be one of ours, we will from time to time receive correspondence which will require the attention of the person requesting the Nominee Director Service. As part of the service we will forward these documents.
Please note that this address should not be used for any trading purposes or general correspondence, or for any form of advertising. The address is only to be used to comply with the requirements of the Companies Act 1985 in relation to official mail and documents.
Conditions of using our Nominee Directors
If you use us as Nominee Directors for your company, you must be aware of the following conditions:
The Nominee Director is responsible for the company before the law of the jurisdiction of residence.
The beneficial owner has an obligation to send records about the activity of the company, so that the company can fill in tax and government records in good time.
Certain taxes need to be paid by the Nominee Director on behalf of the Beneficial Owner. VAT normally needs to be paid quarterly, and Corporate Tax needs to be paid annually. Annual Taxes need to be paid, usually at the start of the calendar year. It is the obligation of the Beneficial Owner to be aware of the taxes to be paid, and arrange to send the appropriate money to us in advance.
If the beneficial owner does not appear to keep to their obligation, any Power of Attorney or apparent Power of Attorney will be revoked, and the appropriate authorities will be told that the company is no longer active. In any express Power of Attorney, it is specifically stated that the beneficial owner is not contracting on behalf of the company in any contract for which they do not remit details thereof to the Nominee Director timeously.
