IP consolidation for a software group before a funding round
Software written by contractors in four countries and owned by nobody in particular, three months before investors were due to check everything ahead of a Series B round.
The situation
A software group had built its platform using contractors hired by three different group companies across four countries. Nobody could show cleanly who legally owned the code. And a lower-tax 'IP box' was being claimed by a company that had neither paid for nor directed the development.
- Ownership of the code had to be pieced together and properly transferred before investors started checking, not during.
- The share of qualifying R&D (the 'nexus fraction') had to be proven asset by asset from real spending records.
- Moving the IP would trigger an exit tax somewhere; the cost had to be worked out before deciding.
- The development work (DEMPE) had to really move with the IP, which meant moving people, not just contracts.
The tax result follows where the work is done. Moving legal ownership without moving the development team would have failed both the investors' checks and the transfer pricing rules.
- Royalties up
- The sales companies pay fair-market royalties, backed by a pricing study prepared before the round.
- Relief applied
- The IP box only applies to the qualifying share, proven by tracking R&D spending asset by asset.
- Diligence
- One clean owner with recorded transfers replaced an ownership trail no investor would have accepted.
What we did, step by step
- 01Title audit
Reviewed every contractor agreement; found the missing ownership transfers and had them signed again, with payment and dates recorded.
- 02Exit tax quantified
Worked out the cost of moving each asset out of its current owner before deciding, and deliberately left one asset where it was.
- 03Owner chosen on substance
Chose Cyprus because the core engineering team could realistically be based there, not because of the headline rate.
- 04People moved with the IP
Eight engineers moved or were hired locally, so the development work really sat with the owner.
- 05Nexus tracking implemented
Set up R&D spending tracking for each asset from day one of the new structure, separating work from group companies and from outside firms.
- 06Transfer pricing file
Benchmarked and documented the royalty rates, so the licences would stand up to both the investors' checks and a future tax audit.
- Clean, recorded ownership in one company before investors opened the data room.
- The IP box claimed on a proven qualifying share, not an assumed headline rate.
- Where the work happens and where the profit is booked now match, removing the group's biggest transfer pricing risk.
- The round closed without any IP issue coming up in the investors' checks.
A founder-run software group with companies in three countries and no holding company above them, nine weeks before signing a sale to a US buyer.
A UK-based family losing the old non-dom tax treatment after April 2025, who needed a family office that genuinely operates in the UAE while their European property kept earning.
A Middle East payments group moving into business payments in the EU, which needed a licence it could use across Europe, kept separate from its existing parent company.