UK Spouse Visa, IT Contractor, Finances

[rum23]

Hi, I married my Russian girlfriend in June 2016 while on holiday in Europe.
We met in Feb 2016, have had 4 long holidays together this year and decided to get married.
We are in love, her English is perfect and she has even considered selling her house in Russia.

I cant live and work in Russia as I don't speak Russian and I have a son here from previous relationship
but I will be visiting Russia very soon to meet the in-laws, just beginning visa application process.


I am British, self employed as IT Consultant in UK and I have everything required for her UK spouse visa
in terms of paperwork, bank statements, dividends, VAT, HMRC Tax etc etc..

I have seen the checklist and I am not worried about any of it, except that I take advantage of a UK tax
loophole, I suppose you could all it, whereby, I only pay a small amount of tax and take home a minimum wage. The rest of my income is paid to my personal UK bank account as a loan.

Therefore, technically, if you look at my tax payments my salary would be £11,000 but infact I take home
equivelant of earning somewhere in the region of £100,000. I have all the bank statements showing the flow of money in to my business and out, then back in to my personal account.

Does anyone have any experience of this kind of situation? and how any visa application would be affected
by this?

How do I explain this genuine income?! Is it even an issue!?

Any help appreciated,
Bob

[CR001]

A 'loan' would not be counted as income if that is how it is referenced.

Your payslips and salary amount in your bank statement must match and the appropriate tax paid.

[Wanderer]

Just a massive word of warning, not immigration related but these 'loan' schemes are hugely dodgy, HRMC is gunning these like mad at the moment, you will find yourself with a massive tax bill that's for sure.

They are 100% illegal, get out as quick as you can and sort it with HMRC, it's not a loophole, it's fraud.

Take a look here...

http://forums.contractoruk.com/accounti ... rusts.html

You really have a massive problem here.

[Casa]

Wanderer's advice should be taken on board. Apart from this 'scheme' not meeting the income requirement for a spouse settlement visa, the UKVI frequently cross-check with HMRC.

[noajthan]

You can't have cake and eat it.

It's a question of the money or your wife.

[hassan5805]

Hi, I married my Russian girlfriend in June 2016 while on holiday in Europe.
We met in Feb 2016, have had 4 long holidays together this year and decided to get married.
We are in love, her English is perfect and she has even considered selling her house in Russia.

I cant live and work in Russia as I don't speak Russian and I have a son here from previous relationship
but I will be visiting Russia very soon to meet the in-laws, just beginning visa application process.


I am British, self employed as IT Consultant in UK and I have everything required for her UK spouse visa
in terms of paperwork, bank statements, dividends, VAT, HMRC Tax etc etc..

I have seen the checklist and I am not worried about any of it, except that I take advantage of a UK tax
loophole, I suppose you could all it, whereby, I only pay a small amount of tax and take home a minimum wage. The rest of my income is paid to my personal UK bank account as a loan.

Therefore, technically, if you look at my tax payments my salary would be £11,000 but infact I take home
equivelant of earning somewhere in the region of £100,000. I have all the bank statements showing the flow of money in to my business and out, then back in to my personal account.

Does anyone have any experience of this kind of situation? and how any visa application would be affected
by this?

How do I explain this genuine income?! Is it even an issue!?

Any help appreciated,
Bob

Are you the sole director of the company? if yeas then the money transferred into your personal account classed as dividends not loan but the question raise here that are you showing those dividends on your personal tax return or not?

Company only returned loan to its participants if intially you put money into to set up the business but as contractor, which more like service business you might not have invest anything into business.

When person withdrawn more money from company then invested its have two effect one you can show that money as dividend or either show director loan account overdrawn?, bear in mind if director loan account is overdrawn you pay S455 tax to HMRC which HMRC refund back to director once loan paid off by the director to the company.
Other thing is if you take and give back to company in 10 months then you dont need to pay S455 tax.

My suggestion is go through with your tax returns and see if that money has been declared on your tax return then its fine and its classed as you meeting the requirement of £18600 but if its not been shown on your tax return i would advise speak to your accountant and declred that income as dividends and apply for your mrs Visa.

Good Luck.

[Wanderer]

Hi, I married my Russian girlfriend in June 2016 while on holiday in Europe.
We met in Feb 2016, have had 4 long holidays together this year and decided to get married.
We are in love, her English is perfect and she has even considered selling her house in Russia.

I cant live and work in Russia as I don't speak Russian and I have a son here from previous relationship
but I will be visiting Russia very soon to meet the in-laws, just beginning visa application process.


I am British, self employed as IT Consultant in UK and I have everything required for her UK spouse visa
in terms of paperwork, bank statements, dividends, VAT, HMRC Tax etc etc..

I have seen the checklist and I am not worried about any of it, except that I take advantage of a UK tax
loophole, I suppose you could all it, whereby, I only pay a small amount of tax and take home a minimum wage. The rest of my income is paid to my personal UK bank account as a loan.

Therefore, technically, if you look at my tax payments my salary would be £11,000 but infact I take home
equivelant of earning somewhere in the region of £100,000. I have all the bank statements showing the flow of money in to my business and out, then back in to my personal account.

Does anyone have any experience of this kind of situation? and how any visa application would be affected
by this?

How do I explain this genuine income?! Is it even an issue!?

Any help appreciated,
Bob

Are you the sole director of the company? if yeas then the money transferred into your personal account classed as dividends not loan but the question raise here that are you showing those dividends on your personal tax return or not?

Company only returned loan to its participants if intially you put money into to set up the business but as contractor, which more like service business you might not have invest anything into business.

When person withdrawn more money from company then invested its have two effect one you can show that money as dividend or either show director loan account overdrawn?, bear in mind if director loan account is overdrawn you pay S455 tax to HMRC which HMRC refund back to director once loan paid off by the director to the company.
Other thing is if you take and give back to company in 10 months then you dont need to pay S455 tax.

My suggestion is go through with your tax returns and see if that money has been declared on your tax return then its fine and its classed as you meeting the requirement of £18600 but if its not been shown on your tax return i would advise speak to your accountant and declred that income as dividends and apply for your mrs Visa.

Good Luck.

Pretty sure OP is not talking about a director's loan per se but some sort EBT trust/loan scheme where the bulk on the company's income is paid to the director(s) via a trust as a loan which is then written off.

These schemes are very common in the IT consulting business, usually from IoM based businesses who claim to have it HMRC and QC approved which is a downright lie and then wash their hands of it all when it inevitably falls under investigation.

Follow the link up-thread I added, HMRC are on it like a car bonnet.