Form  64-8  provides  written  evidence  that  a  customer  wishes  an  agent  to  act  on  their  behalf  and  allows  HMRC  to  disclose  confidential  information  about  that  customer  to  the  nominated  agent. 

A financial year is usually a 12 month period for which you must prepare annual financial statements. Every company must prepare annual accounts that report on the performance and activities of the company during the financial year. This starts on the day after the previous financial year ended or, in the case of a new company, on the day of incorporation.

If a company was incorporated on 10 June 2015 its accounting date would be set at 30 June, and the first accounts would cover a period from 10 June 2015 to 30 June 2016. 

From 6 April 2008 a private company does not have to have a company secretary (unless their article of association explicitly requires the company to have a secretary). An existing private company that decides to terminate the appointment of their secretary must notify that termination to Companies House on a form TM02. A public company still needs to have a company secretary.

When you appoint a secretary you must notify Companies House of the appointment, any change of details or the termination of the appointment.

Limited companies exist in their own right.  This  means  the  company’s  finances  are  separate  from  the  personal  finances  of  their  owners.  

Every company director has a personal responsibility to deliver statutory documents to Companies House as and when required by the Companies Acts. These include, in particular:

• Accounts
• Confirmation Statement
• Notice of change of directors or secretaries or in their personal details (Forms CH01, TM02, CH03)

In addition, it is usually the directors who will give notice of change of registered office (Form AD01)

IR35 legislation took effect from 6 April 2000 and is designed to bring the tax and National Insurance contributions (NICs) paid on certain engagements in line with the tax and NICs paid by employed staff.

IR35 may apply when you, as an individual, provide your services to a client through an intermediary. For example, if you set up a partnership or a limited company, your client contracts with the partnership or company rather than with you. This includes where your business contracts with an agency to supply your services to a client. HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) asks: “If the partnership or limited company did not exist in this arrangement, would your work for the client business appear to be one of direct employment?” If the answer to this question is yes, then IR35 rules may apply.

If you have done some work for which you need to be paid by an external organisation you will need to raise an invoice. It is essential that these details are correctly ascertained and quoted on the invoice. Generally, the invoice should include:

• Your Company Name & Address
• Tel No
• E-Mail
• Fax No
• Customer/Agency Name & Address
• Date: Date the invoice request is completed
• Customers Purchase Order Number: The purchase order number for the goods/services provided. For the attention of: Name of the person that the invoice should be sent to.
• VAT registration number: if VAT registered

In  the  current  tax  year (2018-19) you  can  take  gross  salary  of  £8,4240  before  any  income  tax  or  national  insurance  is  paid.

A dividend is a part of the company’s profits that is given to shareholders. The dividend is calculated per share, so the more shares you own, the more money you get. Dividends attract income tax, but not National Insurance. When paying dividends, the company must send a dividend voucher to the shareholder. This shows the amount of the dividend and the amount of tax credit. The tax credit shows the amount of tax paid by the company on the shareholder’s behalf. Dividends are paid after tax has been deducted at the basic rate. If you pay a higher rate of tax, you will be liable to pay additional tax on your dividend.

The  amount  you  can  take  as  dividends  depends  on  the  profits  in  the  company.  For  example,  if  you  have £10,500 net  profit  in  the  company  then  you  can  take  a  net  dividend  of  £10,500.

Yes.  You  can  receive  a  personalised  retirement  planning  service  by  calling  the  State  Pension  Forecasting  Team  Helpline  on  Tel   0845   3000   168.  Alternatively,  you  can  request  a  pension  forecast  online  at  the  Pension  Service  website  –  www.thepensionservice.gov.uk/resourcecentre/e-services/home.asp 

Yes.

In the course of our day-to-day business, we’re often asked for advice on life assurance, mortgages, investments or pensions. As we’re not authorised to provide such advice, we’ve made arrangements to refer clients to a financial adviser firm.

We want to make sure that clients receive quality and unbiased advice, so in our selection process we excluded any financial advisers who are tied in any part of their business to one or more individual providers of financial products. We also made sure that our selected advisers were experienced in working with professional firms and have the expertise to suit our clients’ needs.

If you employ your partner, i.e. your spouse, civil partner or (co-habiting) partner, you should decide in what type of role you want to employ them, i.e. will it be a managerial or non-managerial position? You should get professional advice on:

• the terms and conditions of your partner’s employment
• ways of minimising your own tax bill and that of the business while complying with HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) rules

• keep adequate records of work done by your partner
  
• protect your partner’s eligibility for pension and state benefits
• build up a pension for your partner
• obtain advice from a tax specialist or HMRC about the tax implications if you share the business profits between the two of you – if your partner is also a partner in a partnership, or if you split your workload between you and your partner
• look at tax benefits for your partner, such as company cars with low emissions, to help keep your combined tax liability low

Yes,  you  can  but  will  be  required  to  provide  evidence  if  challenged  by  the  HM  Revenue  as  to  why  you  are  giving  away  a  percentage  of  your  business  to  a  family  member.  Is  it  to  reward  them  for  their  contribution  or  is  it  to  avoid  paying  high  rate  tax?  Make  sure  that  dividends  paid  to  family  members  who  own  shares  are  clearly  distinguished  from  their  salary  or  wages. 

These are all the ongoing expenses associated with running your business that you can deduct from your “gross profit” figure on your profit and loss account to calculate a figure of “profit before taxation”. You must have receipts for all expenses claimed. Some of llegitimate business expenses for accounting purposes are:

• employee costs
• premises costs
• repairs
• general administration
• motor expenses
• travel/subsistence
  
• advertising/promotion/entertainment
• interest
• bad debts
• legal/professional costs
• other finance charges
• depreciation or loss – profit – on sales of equipment

If you’re a business and the goods or services you provide count as what’s known as ‘taxable supplies’ you’ll have to register for VAT if either:

• your turnover for the previous 12 months has gone over a specific limit – called the ‘VAT threshold’ (currently £85,000)
• you think your turnover will soon go over this limit

We can register you/your business for VAT.

Using the Flat Rate Scheme you pay VAT as a fixed percentage of your VAT inclusive turnover. The actual percentage you use depends on your type of business, see appendix A for your industry percentage. You can pay VAT as a flat rate percentage of your turnover if:

• Your estimated VAT taxable turnover – excluding VAT – in the next year will be £150,000 or less. Your VAT taxable turnover is the total of everything that you sell during the year that is liable for VAT. It includes standard, reduced rate or zero rate sales or other supplies.
• Your estimated total business income – including VAT – in the next year will be £187,500 or less. Your total business income is the total value – including VAT – of everything that you supply, including exempt and non-business income, but does not include income from the sale of any capital assets.

Generally you don’t reclaim any of the VAT that you pay on purchases, although there are a few exceptions. For example, you can reclaim VAT on capital assets worth more than £2,000.

Corporation  Tax  is  a  tax  on  the  taxable  profits  of  limited  companies.  The  rate  for  small  companies  is  19%  and  the  main  rate  of  Corporation  Tax  (30%)  applies  when  profits  exceed  £1.5  million

Yes,  as  a  general  rule  of  thumb  you  need  to  keep  at least  20%  of  your  net  turnover  (excluding  VAT)  to  aside  to  meet  your  tax  obligations.

Unlike other taxes such as Income Tax or VAT – where in most cases the filing and payment deadlines are identical – this is not the case with Corporation Tax. The deadline to pay your Corporation Tax is before the deadline to file your Company Tax Return. Generally you must:

• pay by 9 months after the end of your company accounting period
  
• file by 12 months after the end of your company accounting period

For example, if your company’s financial year runs from 1 April 2015 to 31 March 2016, and your Corporation Tax accounting period is the same, you must:

• pay your Corporation Tax for that period by 1 January 2017
• file your Company Tax Return for that period by 1 April 2017

Within  nine  months  for  accounts  starting  on  or  after  6  April  2008.  If  a  company  with  an  accounting  period  end  of  30  June  has  until  30  March  the  following  year  to  file  its  accounts,  and  not  31  March.  Always use the corresponding date in the final month.  If  there  is  no  corresponding  date,  use  the  last  day  of  the  relevant  month.  

An  annual  return  is  a  record  of  key  company  information  which  you  must  provide  by  a  designated  date  each  year.  Annual  returns  are  sent  to  Companies  House  where  they  are  filed  and  made  publicly  available,  so  that  anyone  can  verify  the  details  and  legitimacy  of  any  UK  company.  If  your  business  is  a  company  or  a  limited  liability  partnership  (LLP),  you  are  obliged  to  make  an  annual  return  to  Companies  House.

If you pay tax on your earnings or pensions through PAYE (Pay As You Earn) your employer or pension provider deducts tax on our behalf and you won’t usually need to complete a tax return. But if you have more complicated tax affairs you may need to complete a tax return. Generally a tax return needs to be completed for:

• self-employed people (including members of a partnership)
  
• company directors
• ministers of religion (any faith)
• people who get rent or income from land and property in the UK (but if you are an employee and this income is less than £2,500 a year a tax return may not be necessary)
  
• people who have other untaxed income and the tax due on it cannot be collected though a PAYE tax code
• people with taxable foreign income, even if they are not normally resident in the UK (this includes non-resident landlords)
  
• anyone who receives annually (or can be treated as receiving) income from a trust or settlement, or any income from the estate of a deceased person, and further tax is due on that income
  
• trustees and personal representatives (including people who manage the tax affairs of deceased persons)
• trustees of certain pension schemes
• employees and pensioners with more complex tax affairs

If you’ve not received a return but think you should complete one, you should let us know and we can register on your behalf or you can contact your Tax Office directly.