About 3 months ago I wrote some computer software. About a month a go I put it 'on the market' and a few people have bought it, earning me less than 200GBP. I remained a 'UK Sole Trader' to do this, and didn't create a limited company.
Now I've had an offer for someone to partner with me for this idea plus new ones we've come up with. I would own half the new company, it will have a significant investment in it, plus I get a lump sum of £200,000 up-front.
The terms of the deal are pretty flexible, in that I can maximize my tax allowances - but bottom line someone else is putting some money into the new business, plus my lumpsum, to own %50 of the new company. We have lawyers structuring the deal and it's going well. Legally we have good professional advice.
Now it's a case of my own personal tax liability (bearing in mind we can restructure the deal if it helps me). I've gone to two local accountants to get some UK tax advice and their opinions have varied widely, hence my question:
What's the best way to pay as least amount of tax on the lumpsum of £200,000? I would like to access it within a two year period (i.e. no schemes over a very long period of time).
One accountant said that I should create a new UK company, and then 'license the IP' to the new one. That way my wife and I could take a future dividend from this new company, plus give ourselves a low-tax band salary each straight-away.
The other one says that it's a straight case of me having to pay 40% capital gains tax on the lumpsum (minus the 9k allowance), and that there is no advantage of setting up a 'holding company' to shelter the sum. There reason is that the 'business already exists'. They also say that future earnings will probably make it not that useful to use the 'hold co' for, as my wife allowance probably won't be able to be used due to upcoming UK tax law changes.
Happy to answer more questions, and realize that this is all 'free advice', but would appreciate any insights or ideas...