Pick the route by how much is left in the company
Both routes end with the company dissolved, but they tax your final cash very differently. A strike off is the cheap option: form DS01, a £13 online fee from 1 February 2026, and dissolution a couple of months after the Gazette notice. Under section 1030A CTA 2010, distributions in anticipation of a strike off are capital only if they total £25,000 or less; exceed that and the entire amount, not just the excess, is taxed as a dividend at up to 39.35%. For reserves comfortably above £25,000, a Members Voluntary Liquidation removes the cliff edge: a licensed insolvency practitioner distributes any size of reserves as capital. Before either route the company must cease trading, settle creditors and all UK taxes, file final accounts and a final Company Tax Return, deregister for VAT and close the PAYE scheme. Anything left in the company at dissolution passes to the Crown, so distribute first. Our full guide to closing a UK company when leaving the UK works through both routes, and if you are undecided, see close versus leave it dormant.
The reliefs and the anti-avoidance rules
If the distribution is capital, Business Asset Disposal Relief can tax qualifying gains at 18% for disposals on or after 6 April 2026 (up from 14% in 2025/26), within a £1 million lifetime limit. You need to have held at least 5% of the shares and voting rights and been an officer or employee, with the company trading, throughout the two years to the disposal. Then comes the Targeted Anti-Avoidance Rule: wind up a close company, take the reserves as capital, and carry on the same or a similar trade within two years with a tax advantage as a main purpose, and the distribution is re-taxed as income. The rule does not switch off at the border, so starting a similar consultancy abroad within two years of a UK closure can still trigger it.
Time the closure around your departure
Timing usually decides the final bill. Delaying the distribution until after you leave looks attractive under split-year treatment, but the temporary non-residence rule catches it: if you are non-resident for five years or fewer and return, distributions from your own close company taken while away are taxed in the year you come back, and from 6 April 2026 that applies whether the profits arose before or after you left. If your move is permanent or will last more than five complete tax years, the picture is cleaner; if it might be shorter, it is often simpler to complete the closure while still UK resident, lock in the 18% rate and pay a known amount. Your destination country may also tax the distribution, so the double tax treaty position needs checking too. Horizon scopes cross-border closures for a fixed fee agreed upfront, and a free clarity call is the quickest way to map your own exit before you sign the DS01.