Cross-Border Business

Can I keep my UK limited company if I move abroad?

Answered by Jordan Onraet-Wells, Founder & Chartered Tax Adviser (CTA). Published 17 July 2026. Last reviewed 17 July 2026.

The short answer

Yes. UK company law does not require directors or shareholders to live in the UK, so you can keep your limited company and run it from anywhere, even as sole director. The company remains UK tax resident by incorporation, so it keeps paying UK corporation tax and meeting every Companies House and HMRC deadline. The main risk is that your new country also taxes the company, either by treating it as managed and controlled there or through a permanent establishment.

There is no UK residence requirement for directors or shareholders of a UK limited company; you can be the sole director and shareholder from overseas.
A UK-incorporated company stays UK tax resident and pays corporation tax at 19% on profits up to £50,000 or 25% above £250,000, with marginal relief in between, for the financial year from 1 April 2026.
Running the company from your new home can make it tax resident there too, or create a permanent establishment, adding local corporate tax on top of UK corporation tax.
The UK charges no withholding tax on dividends, and non-resident rules often reduce UK tax on them to nil, but your country of residence will usually tax them instead.
Annual accounts, the confirmation statement, the CT600 and corporation tax payments all continue on their normal deadlines while you are abroad.
All directors, including those living overseas, must verify their identity with Companies House: new directors since 18 November 2025, existing directors by 18 November 2026.

The company stays taxed in the UK

Moving abroad does not turn your company into an offshore entity. A company incorporated in the UK is automatically UK tax resident under the incorporation rule, so it continues to file a CT600 and pay corporation tax at 19% or 25% (with marginal relief between £50,000 and £250,000 of profit) whether you live in London or Lisbon. Every Companies House obligation also continues, including annual accounts and the confirmation statement, and penalties for missed deadlines apply regardless of where the director sits.

The trap: your new country's claim on the company

The bigger risk runs the other way. If you make the company's key decisions from where you now live, that country may treat the company as tax resident there under its own management-and-control rules, and a home office or habitually concluding contracts locally can create a permanent establishment whose profits it can tax. Modern treaty tie-breakers no longer resolve dual residence automatically: under many treaties the two tax authorities must agree a single residence, and treaty benefits can be withheld until they do. Our guide to running a UK company from abroad covers these rules in depth.

What to do before you move

Take advice before you leave, because these problems are far cheaper to design out than to unwind. Map where the company's decisions will really be made, check the tax treaty between the UK and your destination, and plan how you will pay yourself: dividends carry no UK withholding tax, while salary is taxed where the duties are physically performed, and directorship duties carried out in the UK can still trigger PAYE. If you are settling abroad permanently with mainly local clients, compare keeping the UK company against incorporating locally or closing the UK company.

Go deeper

Sources and further reading

This is general information for the 2026/27 UK tax year, not personal tax advice; speak to a Chartered Tax Adviser about your own position.

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