Self Employed /Company Advice Please

It really depends on your financial circumstances and what you want to do with the business.

Having a Ltd company (generally) protects your personal assets by transferring liability to the company.

Profit can be retained in the company or paid out. There are rules as to the amount that can be paid out based on the company’s liabilities. If profits are paid out to an individual they are treated as income and liable for the usual deductions. There is nothimg to prevent you maximizing your pension contributions into a personal fund and using that to buy an investment property.

If you are growing/ want to grow your business you need cash in the co., it also improves perception of the business and makes it easier to get credit

Selling the company has tax implications -  selling the shares of the co. or selling its assets have different tax treatments.

You need to talk to an accountant.

Suspect it depends on your turnover and average annual taxable income after expenses etc. Also self employed here, sole trader like yourself. Signed up to a PRSA scheme about 15 years ago and now put in near max annually that's allowed. This reduces income tax payable. On retirement can take out 25% of fund I believe tax free and invest rest in fund that will pay additional monthly pension. Between that, two state pensions and some ongoing work (will you ever retire completely?) - expect to be reasonably OK. Some people invest in property and call it their pension but really it's a whole heap of extra work and expense too, and you're gambling on the property market.

You should be able to meet all the requirements for Retirement Relief and be exempt from Capital Gains Tax up to €750k when winding up the company - ie €750k you can withdraw tax free

You would probably be best to ask your accountant who files your company accounts and tax returns, they should be able to advise best

There are companies and individuals who go to various lengths & strategies to avoid paying tax and maximising the returns from their income streams. They employ accountants and legal people who specialise in tax to do this. They are not bog standard self employed people who read about these things. The PRSA type savings pension scheme was brought in to minimise charges and facilitate self employed to invest in own pensions. That's the simplest option with least work. I read there is a new pension scheme coming in with the government putting in €1 for every €3 saved, but best check that yourself :)

Not sure how people can give you advice. You say you take all profit from the company - is this 10k or 100k. How many. You are adverse to pensions, yet you want to save for retirement, and you also want to minimise tax. There are a few contradictions there. You can choose a pension with as much or as little risk as you want and it's tax efficient t

It's like me asking you to wire a house without giving you any dimensions, how many sockets etc. Excluding pensions out the gate is like saying I'm also not gonna consider a fuseboard

think about your first line there - if someone needed to fix a socket you might be able to give them advice on here. if someone needed to wire a house they would need to employ you to do the work.

in your case youre wiring a house, you need to talk to an accountant (sounds strange i know). the idea is that long term you will be saving many multiple of the initial cost of engaging them to help

John, lots of people here have advised you to talk to a professional but you seem hesitant. I understand your position. Talk to family/friends you respect and ask them who they use for financial advice. Talk to two/three of them and listen to what they say to you. The initial meeting should not cost you anything.

Doing it right, first time, could save you a lot of money in the future. But please do it!

Good luck to you!

Have you considered the close xonoany surcharge? You should talk to whoever does your taxes.

OP. You say that you’ve an issue giving your money to someone else to invest ? I bet there’s a few people here saying the same thing about electricians “ I hate paying them to re wire my home” 😉. I suggest (after 38 years in Financial Services) you pay a fee based broker for independent advice and avoid the “forum’s investment experts” 😎

Maybe it’s just a case of nobody here knows how to do it.

Google ‘set up Mortgage Pension’ and see if anything comes up.

WE HAVE NO INFORMATION ABOUT YOU so it is very hard to advise you

What age are you?

Is the figures you gave earlier of €35000 salary between yourself and wife accurate - hopefully you are not living on that alone!!

What other income do you have as a couple ( if any)?

Is the company profit figure you gave earlier accurate?

Do you have children? What is your future personal income needs

Your accountant does not set up a pension for you and hard to see how they are gaining on advising you to invest in a pension. You receive tax relief on the contribution so its a sensible option. Any financial adviser can you up with this - its nothing to do with your accountant. The accountant just claims the tax relief for you.

A company can buy a house but you will gain little personally on this structure.

When you liquidate the company you will pay tax on the withdrawal whether cash or property.

There are ways to limit the tax payable but we are talking complicated structures which being honest may be out your reach given that the company seems to be small.