Substance requirements in practice — what part of this actually needs a professional?
Some of it, yes — and we will say so on the call if that is the honest answer. The parts that are worth paying for are the ones where a missed election, a missed deadline or an unverified threshold costs more than the fee: requirements differ by jurisdiction and by activity, and several regimes now impose reporting and penalties for failures.
What if I have already filed and got it wrong?
That is a common starting point. We re-derive the position, identify whether an amendment or a disclosure route is the right vehicle, and tell you which one preserves the relief that is still available. The order matters more than the speed.
How long will it take?
It depends on the documents rather than on us. Once the pack is complete most filings turn around inside a fortnight; anything that needs a certificate from a tax authority runs on that authority's timetable, which we tell you at the start rather than at the end.
What actually counts as substance for a company abroad?
People who make decisions, records that show them making those decisions, and functions that match where the profit is reported. That is the whole of it, and each of the three has to be real. A registered office address and a local director drawing a fee is the arrangement most often mistaken for substance, and it answers none of the three: nobody decided anything, nothing records a decision, and no function sits behind the profit. What is enough varies by jurisdiction and by what the entity actually does, so a holding company and an operating company in the same country are not held to the same expectations.
Is a registered office and a local director enough?
On its own, no. Those are the trappings of presence rather than evidence of it. The question a reviewer asks is where the decisions about this company were actually taken, by whom, and on what information. If the local director received papers already decided elsewhere and signed them, the record will show that, because the correspondence trail behind the signature is usually the first thing requested. Several regimes now attach reporting obligations and penalties to substance failures, which means the consequence is no longer confined to losing an argument about where profits belong. It can be a filing failure in its own right.
Can we build substance after the tax authority asks about it?
Not usefully, and that is the single most important thing to understand about this subject. Substance is an operating decision, and the evidence of it is contemporaneous by definition: minutes written on the day, papers circulated before the meeting, correspondence showing a decision being considered rather than confirmed. Documents produced after a query arrives are dated after the query arrives, and everyone involved knows what they are. What can be done after the fact is honest: change how the company is run from now on, document the change properly, and take a considered position on the years already closed rather than improvising one under time pressure.
Where do our board meetings have to be held?
The wrong question, though a common one. Location of the meeting is evidence, not the test. What matters is whether the people who genuinely decide the company's direction are acting in that country, which is why a meeting held locally to ratify decisions taken elsewhere tends to weaken a file rather than strengthen it. Look at who sets the agenda, who prepares the papers, who can say no, and whether the local directors have the information and authority to exercise judgement. If they do, the meeting location follows naturally. If they do not, moving the meeting changes nothing that a reviewer will care about.
Do substance requirements differ from one country to another?
Yes, and by activity within a country as well. Requirements differ by jurisdiction and by what the entity does, so there is no single checklist that travels. A financing company, a holding company, an intellectual property owner and a distribution company can face quite different expectations in the same place, and the same activity can be treated differently across the border. Several regimes also now impose reporting on these points and penalties where the answers fall short. The practical approach is to establish what the specific jurisdiction expects of this specific activity, then decide whether the way the company is actually run meets it.
What records show that decisions were really made locally?
Board papers circulated in advance rather than minutes drafted afterwards. Agendas that show alternatives being weighed. Correspondence in which local directors ask questions and receive answers before deciding. Evidence of the people who carry out the functions, what they are paid, and what they are qualified to do. Contracts negotiated and signed in the place they are said to be. Kept contemporaneously, this is ordinary administration and costs very little. Reconstructed later, it is expensive and much less persuasive. The test worth applying internally is simple: if a reviewer asked for the file behind one specific decision, is there a file behind it?
What happens if I have not filed for several years?
Missed years are handled as one package, not one at a time, because the route chosen for the first year determines the relief available for the rest. Each country has a disclosure or relief programme with its own conditions, and entering the right one — before the authority contacts you — is usually what keeps penalties down. Filing quietly outside a programme forfeits that protection. See catching up on missed returns.
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.
