The world of international expansion is pretty confusing! Between navigating foreign tax laws, regulations, and the logistics of setting up a business abroad, it’s no surprise that countless small business owners find themselves overwhelmed.

International business expansion, on paper, sounds great. But, it’s filled with foreign market idiosyncrasies and stacks of paperwork as far as the eye can see. To put it simply, growing your business beyond your home turf is a mighty task. You’re not just battling with language barriers and cultural differences, but you’re also wrestling with getting your business legally up and running overseas.

This blog will discuss everything you need to know.

Getting to Grips with Registering an Overseas Entity

Firstly you need to sort out registering your business as an overseas entity.

The Register of Overseas Entities came into force in the UK on 1 August 2022 through the new Economic Crime (Transparency and Enforcement) Act 2022. Overseas entities who want to buy, sell or transfer property or land in the UK, must register with Companies House and tell them who their registrable beneficial owners or managing officers are.

Registering your business on companies house gives your business the legal thumbs-up to set up shop in a foreign country. However, this process comes with a side order of annual filings and additional updates to keep everything above board.

Registering Beneficial Owners – The What, Why and How

Next, registering beneficial owners. Beneficial owners are those who hold the reins of your business, the ones who ultimately control or own your company. And just like your business, they need to be officially registered too. But why? Well, it’s all about transparency and accountability. Registering beneficial owners keeps everything out in the open, ensuring no one’s hiding from the law.

The good news is we’re here to guide you through this process, step by step, ensuring everything is done by the book.

For starters, you’ll need to provide information about the overseas entity, any registrable beneficial owners, and the UK-regulated agent that carried out verification checks. You may also need to provide information about managing officers. The full break down of the information you’ll need to provide them with can be found here.

Simplifying Annual Statement Filing

Once your business is officially registered and has its overseas entity badge, there’s one more hurdle to jump: the annual statement. This is a mandatory assignment that demands your attention each year. This statement is a yearly roundup of all the changes to your company’s structure, shareholdings, and the crew of beneficial owners.

You must file an overseas entity update statement one year after the overseas entity was registered, and every year after that. This is to tell Companies House about any changes, or confirm that the information that they hold is still correct.

The update statement must be filed no later than 14 days after the due date. You can also file earlier if the overseas entity needs to update any information.

Any changes, whether they’re as small as a tweak in shareholdings or as big as a shift in beneficial ownership, need to be addressed promptly.

Realistically, being a business owner, you’re juggling a million and one things, and the last thing you need is the stress of tackling the intricacies of international accounting. That’s where we are here to help, so don’t hesitate to reach out.