How many British company owners have moved abroad since 2024, and where they went

About 6 million British people are on the Companies House register as a person with significant control of a UK company, which means they own more than a quarter of its shares or votes, or otherwise control it. If you own most of your company, you're one of them. Nearly all of them live in the UK. A growing number don't.

Every owner's record on the register gives a country of residence. We took seven Companies House snapshots of the register, from 2 January 2024 to 19 October 2026, and followed each British owner's record from one snapshot to the next. This is how many moved abroad, where they went, who they are, and what the tax rules say about selling a company once you've gone.

How many have moved

Between 2 January 2024 and 19 October 2026, 6,962 British company owners changed their country of residence on the register from the UK to somewhere abroad. That's about 208 a month over the whole period, but the rate hasn't been steady. It was about 140 a month through 2024, picked up in the first half of 2025, and jumped to about 240 a month in the second half.

Then came identity checks. Since 18 November 2025, directors and people with significant control have had to verify their identity with Companies House, existing ones by a date in the following 12 months, and many owners brought their details up to date when they did. Of the owners whose move showed in the first half of 2026, 64% had verified during the same six months. Of the owners who moved in 2024, before the checks began, only 31% happened to verify in that window. So about 890 of the 2,579 moves recorded in 2026 are probably owners reporting moves they'd made earlier.

The register recorded about 270 moves a month in 2026. Allowing for the catch-up, it's been about 180 a month: below the second half of 2025, but still well above 2024.

Some went the other way. Over the same periods, 3,182 British owners' country of residence changed from abroad to the UK, so for every owner who came back, about two left.

Where they went

The United Arab Emirates took more than any other country, 1,045 owners, or 1 in 7 of everyone who moved. Its share has grown, from 1 in 9 of those who moved in the first half of 2024 to 1 in 6 since July 2026.

Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man count as abroad here, because they're outside the UK, though many owners who move there keep close ties with it.

Who's moving

Most are well short of retirement age. Of those who moved, 49% were under 50 in 2026 and 26% were 60 or over. And 47% owned three quarters or more of the company they're listed against, so for many it's their own business they're now running from abroad, or have left someone else to run.

By the company's main activity, the largest groups were professional and technical services (1,246), information and communication (1,002) and property (907).

Where British company owners live abroad now

That's everyone who lives abroad now, including owners who set up a UK company from abroad, not only those who moved. It's 1 in 95 of all British owners on the register. France, the United States and Spain have the most, many of them older owners who went years ago: in France, 54% are 60 or over. In the United Arab Emirates it's 19%.

The numbers in the newer destinations have grown fastest. Since 2 January 2024, British owners living in the United Arab Emirates have gone from 3,219 to 4,581, and in Portugal from 1,318 to 2,027. Over the same time, the number of British owners on the register as a whole went from about 5.1 million to about 6 million.

What the tax rules say if you move abroad and then sell

We can't tell from the register why anyone moved, and plenty of owners move for family, work or the weather. But the rise came after a run of changes to how gains are taxed. The main rates of Capital Gains Tax went up to 18% and 24% on 30 October 2024, from 10% and 20%, and Business Asset Disposal Relief went from 10% to 14% on 6 April 2025, and to 18% on 6 April 2026.

If you're thinking of moving abroad and selling your company later, these are the rules that matter most.

• Non-residents usually don't pay UK Capital Gains Tax on shares. GOV.UK says you don't pay it on shares in UK companies if you're not UK resident, with two exceptions: you come back within five years, or the company is UK property rich, meaning 75% or more of its gross assets are UK land, and the indirect disposal conditions are met.
• Coming back within five years can bring the gain back into UK tax. If you were UK resident in at least four of the seven tax years before you left, a gain made while you were away, on shares you held before you left, is taxed in the year you return.
• Residence for tax is decided by the Statutory Residence Test, not by what the register says. The test looks at the days you spend in the UK and your ties here.
• The country you move to may tax the gain. It has its own rules, and some tax gains on shares that the UK wouldn't, so check them before you sell.

If you stay in the UK and sell, our business sale tax calculator works out the tax on your own figures, and our piece on how the tax on selling a business has changed since 2008 shows how far it's moved. All of this is general guidance, not tax advice. Take advice before you move or sell.

How we worked out the figures

Companies House publishes a snapshot of every live company's people with significant control each day, and keeps older snapshots available to download. We used seven: 2 January 2024, 1 July 2024, 2 January 2025, 1 July 2025, 5 January 2026, 1 July 2026, 19 October 2026. A person with significant control's record has its own id, which stays the same from one snapshot to the next, and a country of residence.

We counted a move when a British national's record gave a country of residence in the UK in one snapshot and outside it in the next. England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland all count as the UK, and blank entries never count as a move. A person who owns several companies has a record for each, so we matched records to people by name and month and year of birth, and counted each person once, in the first period their move shows. Moves back to the UK are counted the same way, period by period. Ages are worked out from the year of birth on the register. We publish totals only.

To allow for identity checks, we looked at the verification dates on each mover's record in the latest snapshot. For each period, we counted the movers who verified during that period and took away the number you'd expect by chance, using the owners who moved in 2024, before verification began, as the guide. What's left is our estimate of catch-up, and the like for like figures leave it out. It's an estimate: owners who moved recently and verified at the same time would make it too high, and older moves updated without a verification in the window would make it too low. The totals of moves and the destinations include it.

These are owners who told Companies House. The law says changes must be reported within 14 days, but not everyone does, so some moves show late and some not at all. Owners who stopped being a person with significant control between two snapshots aren't followed. It's a count of company owners, not of everyone who leaves the UK. We'll add a new period every six months.