{"text":[[{"start":9.05,"text":"Wealthy families are increasingly using a type of company for their investments that does not limit their losses but helps them to avoid inheritance tax and keep financial data out of public view."}],[{"start":20.5,"text":"The appeal of setting up a private unlimited company is twofold, said advisers to the rich. First, they do not need to file annual accounts at Companies House and, second, parents can start handing over assets to their children to reduce their tax bill."}],[{"start":36.8,"text":"The risk is that any losses from investments made by the company, or an operating business held within it, are not confined to shareholder capital as with a limited liability company."}],[{"start":49.099999999999994,"text":"Charlie Tee, a partner at law firm Withers, said the private unlimited company was “much more akin to an old-fashioned partnership where if something goes wrong the shareholders can be pursued for whatever. Theoretically, all their assets are at risk.”"}],[{"start":64.14999999999999,"text":"He said privacy was a significant motivator for wealthy families: “You’re preventing journalists or people with an axe to grind from saying, ‘Oh look, your personal portfolio is worth x.’”"}],[{"start":75.6,"text":"Registration of private unlimited companies has increased 80 per cent since 2020, according to FT analysis of Companies House data, although these are not all necessarily because of wealthy families using them."}],[{"start":87.89999999999999,"text":"While the number of entities is small — just 319 companies in the year to March 31 — the shift of family wealth into structures with fewer disclosure requirements carries implications for transparency."}],[{"start":null,"text":"
"}],[{"start":100.3,"text":"Advisers said private unlimited companies tended to be set up for investments worth £5mn-£50mn, often by those who had come into money following the sale of a business, rather than those with inherited wealth. This level of investment typically generates sufficient income to cover costs and pay dividends. "}],[{"start":120.44999999999999,"text":"“Given that these tend to be dynastic family structures, it is usually when the . . . client is 60-plus and children are in their twenties or thirties” that they are set up, said Lucy Woodward, partner at accountants Saffery."}],[{"start":133.79999999999998,"text":"The recent rise in the number of wealthy families using private unlimited companies has been self-reinforcing as awareness spreads among clients and professionals, advisers said."}],[{"start":144.1,"text":"The uptick in interest is partly being driven by Companies House changes from April 2027, said Stephen Kenny, partner at accountants PKF Littlejohn, which will include mandatory profit and loss filings for smaller companies. "}],[{"start":159.15,"text":"“Private unlimited companies will help avoid this,” he said."}],[{"start":163.45000000000002,"text":"Restrictions, introduced in 2006, on the use of English trusts to keep assets out of inheritance tax have led to the rise of other ways to protect wealth. "}],[{"start":174.00000000000003,"text":"“I’ve been advising clients to consider using them as part of wealth preservation and succession strategies for a long time now but, given where we are, I am seeing more clients proceed with [them],” said Paul Barham, partner at accountants Forvis Mazars."}],[{"start":189.10000000000002,"text":"However, private unlimited companies still have to report full financial details to HMRC."}],[{"start":195.60000000000002,"text":"“Family investment company” is used as a label by advisers to describe both limited and unlimited companies set up to pass on assets. "}],[{"start":203.75000000000003,"text":"Private limited companies can also help parents hand over assets but are subject to public financial reporting requirements."}],[{"start":218.90000000000003,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1778824760_7977.mp3"}