Hello, and thanks in advance for any advice given, however straightforward...

I am a freelance photographer/cameraman and occasional writer and I am stuck in a slight conundrum. I am British but for the last few years I have been living overseas in Africa where my wife has a long-term contract. For the first years I had a very negligible income as I was a volunteers building up a portfolio, but I am at a stage now where the various projects I am involved in are generating around $40K per year. The employers that I work for tax some of this at source under their local laws. Other payments are made into my account in the UK. I understand that I am not liable for taxation in the UK on this because the money is earned overseas and I live and work permanently overseas as my passport testifies. Essentially my house is not really in order and I need to find a good and workable solution. Most of my work is generated by word of mouth and through the industry grapevine but I would like to begin advertising and thus generating more business.

I would like to set up a company and make things more official but I am unsure where this should be done. I have looked at the formation of an LLP. I understand that if the 'business' is carried out overseas (which it is) then taxes are not liable to be paid. I currently live in Uganda and I have investigated setting up a company here, it is relatively simple and taxation is fair, however this would only be useful for a limited part of my income and Uganda is not very prestigious or respected as a business address in the wider world and could not be managed easily should I move again in a couple of years.

I have tried to make sense of offshore business setups and banking and honestly find it very complicated and the security of having a UK registered company appeals to me.


So, what should I do?
Is the LLP useful for a case like this?
What about VAT? I have read that it might be possible to register for VAT in the Isle of Man.
I really want the whole process to be simple and as I spend so much time working in the field.

Thanks in advance,

Jay
=============
An LLP is not normally used for trading, you need a limited company. Regarding taxation, Income to the UK company would normally be taxed as usual but you need to get some tax advice as I have no idea of the situation in Uganda re double taxation treaties etc. Setting up offshore would not be worthwhile for that sort of income and there are all sorts of problems with control of the company being kept in the jurisdiction. In other words, a majority of the directors would need to be seen to be resident by the tax authorities in many jusrisidictions. Each jurisdiction has different rules. For a UK bank account you would need to attend here in person and telling the bank that your income is coming entirely from Uganda will not speed things up at all.
=============