Proposed EU legislation, called the European Private Company Statute,
will allow you to form a European Private Company, also known as SPE. An SPE is
formed through a set of company formation laws which are uniform throughout the
European Union. This allows an SPE to have legal existence in all EU member
states. This also allows you to transfer the domicile of your company from one
EU member state to another.
There are a number of benefits of forming an SPE:
- The minimum capital requirement for the SPE is €1 in order to facilitate start-ups. This provides flexibility to companies in setting suitable capital for their companies
- It (potentially) exists in all Member States
- It allows entrepreneurs to set up all their companies with the same management structure, regardless where they are located
- An SPE can have its registered address in any EU country
- Although the company formation regulations are uniform in all EU member states, the tax regulation may vary with the domiciled EU country. This allows your company to have a extensively flexible tax structure.
- It offers a European label that is easily recognisable throughout the EU
Formations
House can assist you in forming an SPE in any EU member state. Initially your
company will be domiciled in the UK, and the company will operate totally like
a UK company but when the statute is implemented across Europe we can
re-domicile your SPE to any EU member country where the statute has been
implemented. This could greatly reduce your tax liability in the 2nd and 3rd
years of operation. Many large companies are moving their HQ, as they are
worried that the current spending by the government will lead to higher
corporate taxes in later years. The best time to structure your business to
take advantage of the re-domiciliation option is at the setup stage.
If you
feel your business will have a European focus, or you feel you may need to
re-domicile your company to take advantage of lower tax rates of other European
countries in the future than an SPE may be the ideal choice. Taking this option
now does not in any way effect the current operation of your UK company; it
will operate just like a normal UK company with a LTD suffix and is subject to
normal UK taxation.
