BLK Advisory Services · The 3% Advantage
97%
Your platform keeps 75% of what it earns. It could keep 97%.
The UK main rate takes 25%. The Cyprus IP Box takes approximately 3% of qualifying IP profit, and the other 97% stays in the business. There is a right way to move technology IP out of the UK: we build it with real people and real development in Cyprus, priced at arm’s length, and we coordinate every step with your UK advisors.
Regulated Cyprus tax advisors in our partner network issue a formal opinion for every tax position. Your UK position stays with your UK advisors, and we coordinate with them. Figures reflect law in force from 1 Jan 2026.
The UK arithmetic
The UK taxes your platform’s profits at the full rate.
We move qualifying IP the right way and put a real regime behind the profits your code earns.
- 25%
- the UK main rate of corporation tax on your platform’s profits
- Patents only
- the 10% Patent Box requires a granted patent, and grants take years
- £250K
- handed over on every £1M of IP profit, every year
- No regime
- for the profits your code earns once it ships
Why now
The 2026 reform kept the part that matters.
Cyprus raised its corporate rate to 15% and kept the IP Box. A builder who qualifies still pays 3%. One call tells you whether yours does.
- 3%
- effective tax on qualifying IP profit
- 0%
- withholding tax on dividends leaving Cyprus
- 17yr
- personal regime for relocating founders
- 8–12 weeks
- from first call to a running structure
Headline figures under the regime, as applied to qualifying structures. A formal opinion quantifies what applies to yours, case by case.
The move has a price. We name it before you ask.
Anyone selling you 3% without naming the costs is selling you trouble. We model the full picture with your UK advisors before anything moves.
The exit has a cost
Moving IP out of the UK is typically a taxable step. Your UK advisor prices it, and the first call models your payback.
The brains must move
We build the real team, real board and real development in Cyprus that the rules require.
The price must hold
We make sure the valuation file exists before anyone asks for it.
If a provider skips this conversation, keep your hand on your wallet.
Once the structure is standing
On every £1M of qualifying IP profit:
£220,000
stays in the business. Every year.
£250,000 at the UK main rate. £30,000 under the IP Box.
Illustrative, stated before one-off costs. The first call models your payback period, and a regulated Cyprus tax advisor quantifies it in a formal opinion.
How it works
From first call to a running structure.
An indicative 8–12 week path. We sequence the IP migration with your UK advisors, and your business keeps running throughout.
First call & KYC
One call and a short document list. Then a straight answer on fit.
Opinion & valuation
Regulated Cyprus advisors put the structure and your number on paper, coordinated with your UK advisors.
Set-up & onboarding
We establish and onboard your entities, banking and IP.
Substance build
An office, staff on payroll and board control on the island.
Run & report
We run your books, payments and compliance under one roof.
Four licences,held inside the group
Every part of the structure runs on a licence held inside the group.
Company services
Licensed corporate service provider: incorporation, directorship, substance.
Bookkeeping
Books, payroll, VAT and audit-ready files through our accounting company.
Banking & EMI
IBANs, multi-currency accounts and payment operations via our licensed EMI.
Crypto on/off-ramp
Regulated fiat-to-crypto conversion through our licensed exchange.
The opinions, nexus modelling and tax reporting come from regulated Cyprus advisors. We do not write them and we do not sign them.
Straight talk
Said plainly, before you ask.
A qualified tax advisor designs the structure. We build it, then run it: set-up, substance, books, banking and rails.
- Every tax position comes from a regulated advisor.Regulated Cyprus partners issue the opinions, rulings and audits. Your UK position stays with your UK advisors, and we coordinate.
- Substance means people, not paperwork.The regime wants development done where the company is, staff who actually work there, and intra-group pricing set at arm’s length. You bring the technical leadership; we handle payroll, contracts and the office. Your tax advisors write the benchmarking file, and we supply the data behind it.
- Built to survive scrutiny.UK rules were written to catch brass-plate structures. We build a genuine operating company: real team, real decisions, made in Cyprus.
Questions
Asked and answered.
What is the Cyprus IP Box?
A Cyprus tax regime under which 80% of qualifying profit from self-developed intellectual property is deducted, leaving the remaining 20% taxed at the 15% corporate rate, for an effective rate of about 3%. It is OECD-compliant and built on the nexus rule, so the qualifying share depends on the qualifying R&D expenditure behind the IP and who incurred it.
What qualifies, and what does not?
Copyrighted software can qualify: platform code, game engines, trading bridges and proprietary tools. Brands, trademarks and other marketing IP are excluded. The regime is built around technology you wrote, not a licence you resell.
Do our developers have to move to Cyprus?
Not wholesale, but the Cyprus company has to be the one that develops and controls the platform. In practice that means a resident technical lead and a core engineering team approving releases locally, with the Cyprus company funding the work. Development it does itself, or outsources to unrelated third parties, counts toward the qualifying share; development recharged from group companies outside Cyprus does not. You bring the technical leadership; we handle payroll, contracts and the office.
We already own the IP elsewhere. Can we still use the regime?
Usually, and the IP is transferred in at an independent valuation. What you pay to acquire IP that already exists counts toward total development spend without counting toward the qualifying share, so it reduces the share of profit that gets the reduced rate. How that lands on your facts is set out by a regulated Cyprus tax advisor in a formal opinion, alongside your existing advisors, before anything moves.
Is approximately 3% guaranteed?
No. About 3% is the floor rather than a promise: it is what the regime produces when the qualifying share is at or near its maximum, and a smaller share moves the effective rate up, never down. That share follows the development spend behind the IP and who incurred it. A regulated Cyprus tax advisor quantifies your number in a formal opinion before you commit to anything.
We already own the IP in the UK. Can it move?
Usually, and there is a right way to do it. Moving IP out of the UK is typically a taxable step: your UK advisor prices it, and the first call models your payback. The valuation file is written before anyone asks for it, the migration is sequenced with your UK advisors, and your business keeps running throughout.
Run the numbers honestly
Model the move, price and payback included.
- Does your platform qualify?
- When does 3% pay back the cost of the move?
- What does real substance in Cyprus cost to run?
Prefer email? info@blkadvisoryservices.com · +357 25 820785
Spyrou Kyprianou Avenue 67, 4003 Limassol, Cyprus