Buying Into Another Business Idea - Expensing Travel

[BobbyFowler]

I've posted a few threads on the fact that I'm off to Oz & am winding down my Ltd Company here & hopefully selling it on. I'd like to ask 1 or 2 further questions on accountancy related matters.........
I'm looking to buy into another business idea that I'll set up over in Oz. It's a Advertising related idea & not a million miles away from what I do myself here at the moment. The guy who I'm dealing with is looking for 5K for Consultancy / Access To Promotional Materials etc. Rather than giving him 5K of my own personal money I'm wondering can I use my existing companies funds to pay this fee before selling it on? I'd be passing over a clean set of accounts before moving on. I don't want to go down this route if it's not allowed.
My second question relates to the cost of the travel to Oz. Myself & MrsF are the sole directors of my existing company. It's costing us around 2.5K to get to Oz. I'm presuming I couldn't use existing company funds to pay for this travel? If not, can I hold onto these costs and offset them against my next business venture in Oz? Perhaps this is also the route I'd have to take with buying into the business idea. Obviously with the money being there in my Company Account, I'd like to be able to access it now.

 

[ubiquitous]

You can only use company funds for non-company business purposes if you pay it to yourself first in the form of taxable salary or dividends, while making the appropriate tax deductions etc. Any other use of company funds for personal purposes is illegal under both Company Law and the tax code.

I really think you should be getting proper professional advice on questions like the ones you mention above. If you make a mess of extracting funds from a company, then you may well end up with unpleasant consequences in terms of tax and legal issues.

You have mentioned in other threads that your company has lost Audit Exemption. In that regard you should note that your auditor will be obliged by law to report to the ODCE any prohibited use of company funds by the directors. The last thing you want if you're emigrating is a troublesome audit from the Revenue and/or ODCE.

 

[BobbyFowler]

Thanks for that Ubiquitous - I appreciate the advice you come back with each time.
Just back off the golf course. Was playing with the Financial Controller of another company. He didn't recommend doing either of the two things I mentioned - I told him about losing the exemption as well. Sure there you go - them's are the breaks! I'll hold onto any invoices/bills for future use.

 

[rmelly]

Just back off the golf course. Was playing with the Financial Controller of another company.

that's not you in the latest ODCE radio ad by any chance is it? The guy who bought his membership through his company?