International·By Simon Jacobs, CTA · ACA·16 July 2026·6 min read

You live abroad but own a UK agency. Where does the tax land?

In short: You can live overseas and still own a UK marketing agency, but the company's tax and your personal tax are two separate questions. Here is how they split, in plain terms.

More agency founders than ever run a UK company from somewhere else: an EU city, Dubai, or a slow move abroad that never quite got formalised. The good news is that owning a UK agency from overseas is completely normal. The trap is assuming that living abroad automatically means no UK tax. It does not, and the two questions that matter, the company's tax and your own, have different answers.

Can a non-UK resident own a UK company?

Yes. A non-UK resident, including an EU citizen, can own and be a director of a UK limited company, and you do not need to live in the UK to do it. Setting one up follows the same Companies House process as it does for a resident. Ownership and residence are simply not the same thing, which is exactly why the tax splits into two parts. If you want the agency-specific view, that sits alongside our wider work with UK marketing agencies.

The company's tax and your tax are two different things

A UK company pays UK corporation tax on its profits regardless of where its owner lives. Incorporating in the UK and moving abroad does not move the company's profits out of UK tax. Your personal tax is the separate question: how you are taxed on what you take out (salary, dividends) depends on your own residence, not the company's. Founders who miss this end up surprised on one side or the other.

What counts as UK income when you live abroad

As a general rule, someone who is not UK resident is still taxed in the UK on their UK-source income, while their non-UK income usually falls outside UK tax. Dividends from your UK company, and how any double-tax treaty with your new country interacts with them, are a specific area worth getting advice on rather than guessing, because the answer changes with where you actually live.

Residence is decided by a test, not by a feeling

Whether you count as UK resident for a tax year is decided by the Statutory Residence Test, which looks at days spent in the UK and your ties here, not by where you feel you live. It is easy to assume you have left when the test still treats you as resident. Pin your status down before you make decisions that depend on it.

The 5-year rule, and why leaving is rarely instant

There are also temporary non-residence rules: broadly, if you leave and then return to the UK within around five years, certain income and gains you took while away can be pulled back into UK tax on your return. It is one of the reasons a move abroad is a decision to plan, not a switch you flip. We look at both the UK and the overseas side together rather than only one, the same principle behind optimising your UK position before any move.

If you own a UK agency from abroad, or you are about to, get both sides mapped before the money moves. See how we work with agencies or bring the questions to a call.

Common questions

Yes. A non-UK resident, including an EU citizen, can own and be a director of a UK limited company without living in the UK. The setup follows the standard Companies House process. Ownership and tax residence are separate, so owning the company does not by itself make you UK tax resident.

Generally yes on UK-source income, while non-UK income usually sits outside UK tax. The detail, especially around dividends from your UK company and any double-tax treaty with the country you live in, depends on your specific position, so it is worth advice rather than assuming living abroad means nothing is due here.

Broadly, the temporary non-residence rules mean that if you leave the UK and return within around five years, certain income and gains you realised while away can be taxed in the UK on your return. It is why leaving is a decision to plan carefully rather than treat as an instant, permanent break.

Yes. EU citizens can own and run a UK limited company, and do not need to be UK resident to do so. The company is taxed in the UK on its profits either way. How you are taxed personally on what you take out depends on where you are resident, which is the part worth planning.