Accountants for landlords setting up a property SPV
You have decided the next property goes into a company, and now the company itself has to be right before completion, whether this is a first buy-to-let or an addition to a portfolio you hold personally. What you set up on day one is expensive to unpick later. Four decisions sit ahead of formation: who holds the shares and in what classes, which SIC code the company registers under and whether your lender accepts it, how the deposit reaches the company and how it comes back out, and what corporation tax looks like once associated companies are in the picture. All four are settled before the company is formed, so the formation record stands up to a lender and to HMRC, the 2026/27 extraction model is set, and the first-year filing dates are already on a calendar.
What lands on your desk
What you are dealing with
SIC codes and what a buy-to-let lender expects
The SIC code you register at Companies House is the first thing an underwriter reads, and a code describing development or management when you intend to let can stall an application weeks before completion. Pick it before the company exists, because changing it later has to be explained. Detail sits in the guide to SIC codes an SPV lender accepts.
The 5% surcharge applies to the company's first purchase
A company gets no first-property exemption. The additional dwellings surcharge of 5% applies on top of the standard residential rates from the first pound of a company residential purchase, for transactions on or after 31 October 2024. Above £500,000 a flat 17% rate for non-natural persons under Schedule 4A FA 2003 also comes into view, with relief where the interest is acquired exclusively as a source of rents in a qualifying property rental business. Model it with the stamp duty calculator.
Getting the deposit in, and planning how it comes back out
Most first SPVs are funded by the director lending the deposit to the company. That creates a credit balance on the director's loan account, and repayment of it is a return of your own capital rather than income. The balance is finite: drawing against it monthly can exhaust it within a few years, after which extraction moves to dividends. An overdrawn account unpaid nine months after year end attracts a section 455 charge of 35.75%.
Corporation tax, and the rule that catches multi-company portfolios
An SPV pays corporation tax at 19% on profits to £50,000, 25% above £250,000, and an effective 26.5% between. The trap for one-property-per-company plans is that both limits are divided by the number of associated companies plus one, so five SPVs under common control get a £10,000 small profits limit each. Close investment-holding company status removes the small profits rate, but commercial letting to unconnected tenants keeps most SPVs out. Check it on the corporation tax calculator.
First-year filings start sooner than most new directors expect
Formation starts three clocks: a confirmation statement, first accounts at Companies House, and a corporation tax return once HMRC is told the company is trading. Directors and people with significant control also verify their identity with Companies House, directly or through an authorised corporate service provider, now that regime is mandatory. Dates are in the SPV first-year filing timeline.
What a specialist reviews
What a specialist reviews
A structure review before the company is formed
The review starts with what you are buying, how many properties you expect to hold in three years, who needs to receive income, and whether a spouse or adult child should hold shares. The output is a written note on share classes, director appointments and whether one company or several fits the plan.
Formation records a lender and HMRC can follow
Your accountant prepares the formation pack: the SIC code checked against your lender's criteria, the share register, the director's loan agreement, and identity verification for each director and person with significant control. The accounting reference date and HMRC registrations are set so first-year deadlines miss a completion week.
The corporation tax and extraction model for 2026/27
A specialist models profit after mortgage interest, which is deductible in a company and not restricted the way it is on personally held residential property, then sets out the tax at your expected profit level including associated companies. Alongside it sits the extraction order: director's loan repayment first, then dividends at 10.75%, 35.75% and 39.35%, then salary and pension contributions.
A first-year calendar, and the deal checked against it
The first-year calendar is dated obligation by obligation, and bookkeeping is set up so rent, mortgage interest and the director's loan are recorded separately, because a lender refinancing in year two will ask for accounts. A specialist also reviews the purchase itself, starting from the buy-to-let cashflow calculator.
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