How do I get at my money in the most tax efficient way?

[Mister Clark]

Hi all,
I have a scenario for you and was hoping for some ideas about how to best get at the money currently in my limited company. I'll caveat that statement by saying I'm not interested in sailing close to the wind with regards to risk.

So my circumstances are:

- Planning on going to Oz in August 2013.

- Currently pay low salary (640ish a month) and have been taking the highest possible dividend at the beginning of the tax year whilst keeping under the 40% tax bracket.

- Come the end of July (when I plan to stop working/invoicing through my company) if I were to not take any salary or dividend for 2013-2014 I would have approx 150k in the company account once my VAT and corp tax is accounted for.

- Come August I will be closing the company and leaving the country for 1-2 years and going to Oz.

The ultimate question is to how best get the money out?

Here are my thoughts:

- Liquidate the company and make use of entrepreneurs relief (if I qualify which I believe I do).

- Pay a divi of ~£32k in april for the tax year 2013-2014.

- I don't know what to do about salary - if I know I will be an employee of my company upto until the end of July could I bump my salary upto a level that will utilise my tax allowance fully?

- I don't want to put the money into a pension - I have an offset mortgage and way to utilise the money there.

I'm single so no income splitting option available to me.

The only other complication would be if I work in Oz, which I do plan to do after travelling (this will be a permi role).

Does anyone know or can point me to a company/organisation that can advise me as to my tax position? I assume I would be paying Ozzie tax at the highest rate because of my world wide earnings for the year.

Apologies for the convoluted scenario, but any advice welcomed. In particular I an getting muddled because of working in Australia and if/how that would impact me from a tax perspective.

[northernladuk]

Liquidate then if you want the cash.

Check the search option in the Welcome FAQ section. Liquidation has been discussed a couple of times and a few guys are going through the process now and giving feedback.

[Jessica@WhiteFieldTax]

I'm no expert on Aus taxes, but as a starter check to see if they operate a "split year" arrangement or similar - other than the US, most territories do - you are only taxed on income after you arrive, so the worldwide earnings in UK will be out of the equation.

Also, if you can see your self being out of the UK for over 5 years, then you may benefit by leaving your liquidation till after you leave, and getting a total exemption from UK CGT (which you get so long as you are non resident for 5 tax years). Its unlikely that a gain on a UK situate asset would fall into Aus tax as a temporary resident. Again, check it though.

Some local advice from Aus may be best. These are quick thoughts, the bigger picture is beyond the scope of a free forum.

[northernladuk]

Some local advice from Aus may be best. These are quick thoughts, the bigger picture is beyond the scope of a free UK forum.

FTFY

[fraymond]

If you are careful about residency, I believe you could take a once off capital distribution &/or dividend whilst lying on the beach in the virgin islands. You would want to ensure that you are no longer residend in the UK for tax, and it may also require a "lifestyle" holiday for a year before returning to Oz. Dates of tax years in both countries are key, speak to someone who can advise if going down this route.