Limited company for p2p investment

Thanks for the honest reply. I do not know much about lending via a ltd company, therefore would like to speak to accountants about it. i personally have a ltd company in another business, but my accountant do not know much about lending via a ltd company. so looking to jump boats. 
anyways, i will take up your advice and call up a few accounting firms. cheers.

My 2p worth from my own experience (note I am not a financial expert):

- companies make much more sense if you can utilise Entrepreneurs Relief at the end to extract money. This is not possible with an investment company (which a primary p2p vehicle would be). However, if p2p is just a small part of an otherwise trading company, ER could still be an option (but note ER has been restricted recently to avoid phoenix company/phoenix sole trader activity).

- companies will have an advantage if you aren't earning anything from any other source, so can pay some salary free of NI/income tax.

- finally, companies have a role if your marginal rate of tax is likely to lower significantly in the future when you take money out.

- there are probably complex arrangements/offshore etc for people with residence/domicile flexibility that I don't pretend to understand and which won't apply to most people and are harder in recent years and probably only for very HNW people with specialist advice. 

If none of the above apply, the tax differences of using a company are now marginal and probably offset by the hassle and extra accounting expenses, and the fact that what you earn will be publicly available to all prying eyes. 

IFISAs much more useful and straightforward to minimise p2p earnings tax IMHO.

Yes, companies pay corporation tax on their taxable net profit (income minus operating expenses, such as salaries / office costs / etc.). The resulting post-tax profit is either retained on the balance sheet (within the company) or paid out to the shareholders as Dividends.

i super like your username, valueinvestor! thats my dream job

anyway back to more serious question- those of you who use pre-existing limited company (for another business) to invest in p2p, do you have to open a separate bank accounts for p2p trading? 

thanks duck.

i presume you mean your company's bank account? 

>does your ltd company have a separate bank account
No - I'm not sure why you would especially as company accounts often need to be paid for. Its your accountant that is the biggest hurdle with p2p, not the taxman imho.
I have a handful of p2p accounts, many of which are now legacy accounts with bad debts just sitting there. I don't try to claim against trivial bad debts as it prompts a load of demands for paperwork from the accountant which may not be available or indeed tally.
Jack P

As a Director of a Close Company, you could make a loan to your own company, but the funds would then becone part of the company assets (with a corresponding liability to you). Life gets complicated if you try to pay yourself interest on such a loan so best keep it interest free. However, if you have borrowed the money in your personal capacity specifically to lend it to the company then you can offset interest you are paying on it against your other personal income. All this needs careful documentation, however, and the funds would have to be moved into the company bank account. Consult your Accountant first.