Is paid-up capital the same as what I paid for my shares?
Not usually. Paid-up capital is a figure that belongs to the shares themselves, computed class by class at the corporate level. What you personally paid is your own tax cost, and it moves independently — it can be higher if you bought the shares from someone else at a premium, or lower if the company was capitalised before you arrived. Two shareholders holding identical shares therefore have one common paid-up capital figure between them and two different personal costs. Which one applies depends on what the company is doing: returning capital looks to the corporate figure, selling shares looks to yours.
Can my company return capital to me without it being a dividend?
Up to the tax-recognised capital of the shares, yes — money paid out against that capital is a return of what was put in, not a distribution of profit. Past that point the excess is treated as a distribution whether the directors call it one or not, with the consequences that follow for a shareholder abroad. So the practical work is arithmetic and record-keeping rather than drafting: establish the figure for the class, check what earlier payments have already reduced it, and then size the amount. A resolution describing a return of capital does not create the room to make one.
Why does paid-up capital matter to a non-resident shareholder?
Because it decides the character of the money leaving the country. An amount within the tax-recognised capital of the shares is a return of capital; anything beyond it is a distribution that attracts withholding at source and has to be reported as such. The paying company is the party held to that, so it is the company's records that have to support the split. Where the figure has never been computed, the safe assumption at the withholding stage is the one that costs more. Establishing it before the transfer is ordered is much easier than recovering an over-withheld amount afterwards.
Does buying shares from another shareholder increase paid-up capital?
No. Paid-up capital reflects what the company received when it issued the shares, not what a later buyer paid a previous owner. A purchase at a premium gives the buyer a high personal cost for a future sale, and leaves the company's figure exactly where it was. This catches people who acquire a company and assume the purchase price can come back out as capital; it cannot, unless something is done at the corporate level to change it. The distinction is worth settling at the time of purchase, because it shapes how the investment can be recovered later.
What happens to paid-up capital when shares are issued for property?
Issuing shares for property rather than cash is where the corporate figure and the tax figure part company. Company law records what the directors ascribe to the shares; the tax rules look at what was actually transferred, and can reduce the recognised capital below the stated amount where the transfer was made on a deferred basis or between related parties. The result is two numbers in two sets of records for the same share class. Keeping a reconciliation from the date of issue is the practical way to handle it; reconstructing one much later is not.
How do I find out my company's paid-up capital?
It is not a figure you can read off a balance sheet. It is built from the company's own history: every share issuance and what was received for it, every redemption or repurchase, every earlier return of capital, and any reorganisation that adjusted it. For a company of any age that means working through minute books, subscription documents and prior returns, class by class. The output is a schedule you keep and carry forward, not a one-off calculation. Where a company has changed hands or moved jurisdictions, the records are often split between advisers in different countries.
Can an accountant in one country file my return in another?
Yes, where they are authorised to represent you with that tax authority and the filing is done electronically. What matters is not where the adviser sits but whether they can lawfully act for you and are competent in both systems — a return prepared with no knowledge of the other country is where the relief gets missed. We file on both sides, from offices in India, the USA, Canada and the UAE. See how we work.
What is double taxation?
Double taxation means the same income being taxed by two authorities. It comes in two forms: juridical, where two countries each tax one person on one amount, and economic, where two different people are taxed on the same underlying profit — a company on its earnings and a shareholder on the dividend paid out of them. Relief comes from a treaty, a foreign tax credit, or an exemption, and which one applies depends on the income type. How to avoid double taxation sets out the routes.
