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What does it mean to be a Director?

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Your obligations as a Director can be ‘taxing’.

Running a successful limited company typically involves administrative duties outlined by Companies House & HMRC. As the director you’ll also be responsible for ensuring the finances of the company are regulated and healthy.  At Taxfile we can help you focus on growing your business and take care of all your accounting needs.

In order to fulfil your obligations, after your limited company’s financial year comes to a close, it must prepare a set of final accounts and a company corporation tax return.

The company’s final accounts are prepared from the company’s financial records for the period that covers your company’s financial year and must include:

  • a balance sheet showing the value of everything the company owns, owes and is owed on the last day of the financial year
  • a profit and loss account showing the company’s sales against its running costs and highlighting the profit or loss it has made over the financial year
  • notes about the accounts
  • a director’s report (unless you’re a ‘micro-entity’)

The accounts must either meet ‘International Financial Reporting Standards’ or ‘New UK Generally Accepted Accounting Practice’.

At Taxfile we can provide support for small to medium businesses that require accountants to compile and file their full company accounts ready for the shareholders, people of significance to the company, Companies House and HMRC as part of your company corporation tax return.

We can assist you with the bookkeeping and bank reconciliation to ensure that your accounting records are complete and include:

  • all money received and spent by the company
  • details of assets owned by the company
  • debts the company owes or is owed
  • stock the company owns at the end of the financial year
  • all goods bought and sold

As the director you are solely responsible that your accounts and tax return meet the deadlines for filing with Companies House and HMRC. From the accounts you can also deduce how much Corporation Tax to pay. The dates you will need to remember:

  • File the first set of accounts with Companies House 12 months after the date you registered with Companies House
  • File annual accounts with Companies House 9 months after your company’s financial year ends
  • Pay Corporation Tax or tell HMRC that your limited company does not owe any 9 months and 1 day after your ‘accounting period’ for Corporation Tax ends
  • File a Company Tax Return 12 months after your accounting period for Corporation Tax ends
  • File a Confirmation Statement 12 months after: company incorporated, company accounts submitted, or last confirmation statement

As a Director do I need to file a Self-Assessment Income Tax Return?

See our blog HERE

If you are thinking about setting up a limited company we are offering a special price of £375+VAT for the following;

  • company formation (including the option to have the company phrased as a special purpose vehicle for a property rental company)
  • we will register a single director with HMRC for self-assessment
  • we set up the payroll scheme
  • we arrange your chart of accounts on online software and set up the bank feed so transactions are automatically recorded

For more information about any of our tax- and accountancy-related services, call us on 020 8761 8000.

Holiday lettings: tax guide for landlords with furnished lets in the UK/EU

A Tax Guide for Landlords with Holiday Lets

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Holiday lettings: tax guide for landlords with furnished lets in the UK/EU

Do you have a holiday cottage, flat or apartment that you rent out to holidaymakers? If so, our handy ‘Holiday lettings’ guide for landlords could be very useful to you — and it could save you money. It’s packed full of useful information and tax tips that will help you to make the most of your holiday property, at the same time as keeping on the right side of the tax man.

The Pros

We’ve written a section all about the tax breaks that apply to qualifying holiday lets. These include capital allowances for things you pay for when fitting out your holiday property, the tax treatment of expenses, the ability to pay pension contributions on your profits, several types of relief (some of which may affect your exposure to Capital Gains Tax) and small business rate relief.

The Cons

There’s also a section in the guide that covers some of the downsides to tax on holiday lettings. These include the need to get your VAT Registration status and charges right (where applicable) and also the tax treatment of any trading losses.

Qualifying Conditions

Lastly, there’s a section that outlines the qualifying conditions that apply if you want to treat your property as a holiday let rather than as an ordinary rental property. That’s important because different tax rules apply to each category and you could miss out on some excellent tax breaks if you don’t get it right. For example, the holiday rental property must be fully furnished and allow for self-catering holidays. Also, the property must be available for a particular number of days per year and be rented out in a particular way. It should not be occupied by the same tenant(s) for more than Read more

Capital Gains Tax Rule Changes for 2nd properties and property rentals

Second Property & Rented Property ‘Tax Trap’ for the Unwary

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New Capital Gains Tax rules for 2nd properties and property rentals

Owners of second properties and let properties need to be aware that HMRC is planning to introduce new rules from 6 April 2020 to require payment of Capital Gains Tax much, much earlier! The window of payment will be reduced from 31 January following the year of the gain to a mere 30 days from the date of the sale.

Effectively, ‘in year’ reporting of the estimated gains – and payment of the tax – is mandatory under the new rules. Failure to report the gains and pay the tax will lead to penalties for landlords and second home owners.

You will only be able to offset losses accrued at the time of the disposal, so losses later in the year will not be available against the payment on account.

Summing Up:

  • If you make a capital gain in 2018/19 (before the new rules kick in) you will pay the capital gains tax on or by 31 January 2020.
  • For the sale of a house that is let, or a second property, with exchange of contracts occurring on, say, 15 April 2020 with completion happening on 15 May 2020, the Capital Gains Tax (CGT) has to be paid by 14 June 2020. This accelerates the payment of the tax to the Exchequer by 7 months.
  • So, perversely, the later year requires the Capital Gains Tax payment before the earlier year, as you can see above!

The other difficulty is knowing what rate to apply because a higher rate taxpayer has to pay 28% on a gain but a basic rate taxpayer has to pay tax at 18% up to the limit of the basic rate band that is unused. This is, of course, one situation where Taxfile can help to work out the tax implications for its customers. Tax calculations are what we do best and we’re here to help you!

Note that Scottish tax rates may vary.

HMRC is currently assessing feedback on their consultation, which closed on 6 June 2018.

If you believe this change of rules is wrong, one option is to write to your MP to complain.

Professional Help with Tax & Accountancy – for Landlords & More

For help with accountancy and tax for any property, lettings or any capital gains situation you may find yourself in, contact your nearest branch of Taxfile. We have London offices in Tulse Hill (SE21), Dulwich, Battersea (SW8) and another in the Exeter in the South West along with additional tax consultants in Carlisle in the North of England, Yorkshire in the North East, Poole/Dorset and Plymouth in the West Country. Call 0208 761 8000 for an introductory chat or appointment, contact us here or click the bold links for more information. We’ll be happy to help and to get your tax affairs in order.

Chancellor Philip Hammond's Autumn Budget Statement, 22 November 2017

The Chancellor’s Autumn Budget 2017

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This week, Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond delivered his Autumn Budget Statement to the House of Commons. View his full 1 hour speech in the official UK Parliament video below, which also includes a response from Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the opposition:

The biggest news from this budget was the Stamp Duty announcement, wherein first time buyers buying a property up to £300,000 in value will no longer pay Stamp Duty at all (saving £5k), nor pay it on the first £300,000 of homes costing up to £500,000. Money man Martin Lewis gave his take on the proposed Stamp Duty changes and answered frequently asked questions pertaining to exactly what defines a first time buyer in an interview on Good Morning Britain yesterday — here is a 5 minute clip:

Other winners included

  • The Personal Allowance, which is the amount people can earn before they need to start paying income tax, is set to increase by £350 from £11,500 to £11,850 for those earning up to £100k per annum.
  • The National Living Wage (NLW) will increase from £7.50 to £7.83 per hour from April 2018. This will affect UK workers aged over 25.
  • The Chancellor promised investment of £160m in 5G mobile networks …
  • … and a total of £550m for electric cars.
  • He also set aside an additional £1.5 billion in Universal Credit to help those on benefits.
  • £40m was set aside for a teacher training fund for under-performing schools in England.
  • NHS England is to receive £2.8BN in investment (less, though, than the £4BN NHS bosses said is needed).
  • From April 2018, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) is set to replace the Retail Price Index (RPI) as the inflation measure through which business rates will be calculated. It is anticipated that this change will save businesses £2.3BN in the first three years of the change.
  • The Chancellor also abolished the very unpopular staircase tax and promised that those affected to date by the staircase tax would see original rates reinstated. Revaluations will take place every three years (previously five) after the next scheduled revaluation in 2022.

Losers included:

  • The Chancellor revised down the growth forecasts for GDP, productivity growth and business investment.
  • £3BN was set aside for helping to combat Brexit challenges.
  • For second property owners, powers have been given to local authorities to charge a 100% council tax premium on empty houses. (See our note about those getting an income from property rental below).

If you have any questions about how the Autumn Budget might affect you, or any queries about any tax or accounting issues and requirements you may have, simply contact Taxfile on 0208 761 8000, send us a message here or book a 20 minute appointment online here and we’ll be happy to help. We also offer specific tax help and accounting for landlords so do get in touch if you would like to make sure you’re claiming no more and no less than you should if you’re getting an income from letting property.

Links to more detailed HMRC information about the Autumn Budget Statement can be read online here.