Britain has invited overseas companies to move their place of incorporation to the UK, promising a simpler and cheaper route through the front door. The front door is operated by the Department for Business and Trade, and visitors must first complete a consultation before being allowed to ask where reception is.
The Government launched proposals on 25 March for a UK corporate redomiciliation regime. Under current rules, a foreign company wanting to relocate to Britain must wind up its existing entity and establish a new one. This is less a move than a corporate reincarnation, with the business expected to die abroad before being reborn beside a British filing cabinet.
The proposed framework would make it easier for overseas companies to move their place of incorporation without performing that expensive legal vanishing act. It is an inward only regime, which means companies may come into Britain while the paperwork remains exactly where it has always been.
Ministers say the change could boost investment and increase demand for the UK professional services sector. Accountants, lawyers and advisers are therefore preparing for an international procession of companies carrying no boxes, furniture or visible human beings, but requiring several thousand pages to explain that they are still the same company.
The announcement describes Britain as open for business and points to arrangements in Singapore, Hong Kong, Australia and several US states. This gives the proposal the reassuring air of a country copying the answers while insisting it has discovered a distinctive national method of sitting the exam.
A 12 week consultation will collect views on the rules and safeguards. This is sensible. Before Britain can welcome companies from around the world, it must ensure the process is clear, proportionate and capable of producing a form that does not ask whether the applicant is applying to become a form.
The regime may eventually make corporate relocation easier. For now, Britain has achieved the first stage of attracting foreign enterprise. It has made the welcome mat fill in an application to be welcoming.
Source: GOV.UK.
