Best 'Management Company' bank account? (for flat residents)

doc_holloway

Hello!

I'm hoping someone can offer me a bit of advice.

I moved into a brand new flat (in a block of 6) about a year ago, and we have just had the management company transferred across to us, meaning we are all now 'directors', and have to submit annual accounts etc.

We will need to open a bank account to hold management funds, so presumably this will need to be a business account with a couple of signatories, but as this is a non-profit earning company, we certainly don't want to be subjected to any fees that you would normally associate with a business account.

We are intending to have the company registered as a charitable organisation (or similar) to reflect the fact that it is non-profit making.

Does anyone have any experience of similar scenarios, that could offer some tips or advice?

Could you recommend a suitable bank account that would serve this purpose?

Thanks in advance!

martinman3

The list of free business banking accounts available for companies such as yours is now very short. AFAIK there is just the Santander Business Bank Account.
http://www.santander.co.uk/csgs/Satellite?appID=abbey.internet.Abbeycom&canal=CABBEYCOM&cid=1210615659364&empr=Abbeycom&leng=en_GB&pagename=Abbeycom%2FPage%2FWC_ACOM_TemplateA1
The Businessinvestor from Nationwide BS and the free accounts from Co-operative Bank are no longer open to new applications.
The A&L current account requires a deposit of £1000 a month to be free.

You will not be eligible for charity status and should not need to as if you have no profits you will pay no corporation tax.

Assuming that this is a Right To Manage company only, that is you do not own the freehold, the company is holding the service charges etc in trust and will have very little money or income of its own. Corporation tax is paid on profits from trading, which could be just any fees charged by you for the supply of information outlined in the lease, and bank interest on the money held in trust, which should be very small, and will probably not be collected by HMRC if the interest is taxed at source.
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/ct/getting-started/trading.htm

When HMRC will treat clubs and companies as dormant


HMRC may also deem your club, society or company dormant for Corporation Tax purposes if it's active but meets specific criteria such as:

• if your club or society has Corporation Tax due to be paid of £100 or less (known to HMRC as a ‘small' club)
• if your company is a flat management company that has been set up to manage a block of flats, which has no income other than interest income under £1,000 that's taxed at source

If HMRC is aware that your company or organisation meets these criteria, they will write to you proposing to make your company or organisation dormant. This is known to HMRC as a ‘concessional exemption'.

doc_holloway

That's really useful info, many thanks!