Can I be an employee for the company I run

[aron1234]

Hello can I register myself as an employee of my company with hmrc and withdraw salary . Will it be ok or is it also not available. Please someone confirm

[zimba]

Yes of course

[mig2015]

There are at least a few discussions in the forum on this. I personally didn't draw any salary just to be on the safe side and not putting the investment in jeopardy, however this has been challenged by other members that if the business generate quite fair revenue (as a result of business activity), this can be argued that salaries to director(s), come from the actual revenue, as opposed to money invested. I guess you would need more research on this matter.

Having said that, for me it's quite interesting that in a possible scenario that a company spend a two year on Market or Scientific research, infrastructure and technical development etc, with a vision to have some sort of turning point or results in mid-term, say after two two years and a half, or three years, director(s) as important element(s) of the business must also get something to make a basic living if you know what I mean. Some companies may also need to develop until to a certain stage that the genuine job positions can be aactually created. These are things that in my opinion, could be considered as weakness/holes/grey areas in immigration rules (for Tier 1 Entrepreneur of course)

[marcnath]

The immigration rules does not specify that an entrepreneur should not be paid.

In fact, when it comes to settlement, it would be necessary for the applicant to have some salary or other source of income to show they would not be depending on benefits.

The only clause that applies to this issue is related to investments.
clause 245D (c)(ii) says:

(ii) ‘Invested’ means that the funds have been invested into a business or businesses which the applicant is running as self-employed or as a director or member of a partnership. ‘Invested’ or ‘spent’ excludes spending on:
(1) the applicant’s own remuneration,
(2) buying any business from a previous owner, where the money ultimately goes to that previous owner (irrespective of whether it is received or held directly or indirectly by that previous owner) rather than into the business being purchased (This applies regardless of whether the money is channelled through the business en route to the previous owner, for example by means of the applicant or business purchasing ‘goodwill’ or other assets which were previously part of the business.),
(3) investing in businesses, other than those which the applicant is running as self-employed or as a director, and
(4) any spending which is not directly for the purpose of establishing or running the applicant’s own business or businesses.


This is clearly in a section that is set to ensure the investment is used for the right purposes, so people don't beat the system by investing the money and taking it out as salary.

So, there is no doubt that you can take salary if it is not from the investment