Do I have to register for Self assesment

WHA

Atidi wrote: »

You don't need to register for SA. As an appointed director, HMRC will pick this up and almost certainly send you a request for one.

They used to because the Corporation tax registration form asked for details of the directors which then seemed to automatically pass through to the SA section. That's no longer the case.

If and when the company registers as an employer, details of at least one director are asked for, not all, and even then, it doesn't seem to filter through to the self assessment section to issue SA returns. And, of course, if there is no payroll, there'd be no need to register for a PAYE scheme.

Certainly for the past couple of years, we've registered 10 or 20 limited companies and we've not seen 10-20 directors being asked to complete SA returns - maybe 1 or 2 at most. That said, we HAVE registered a few directors for SA where their circumstances dictated due to the other criteria, such as higher rate tax due.

TheCyclingProgrammer

purdyoaten wrote: »

I am sorry but this is bad advice. If you are a director and are required to complete a Self-Assessment tax return it is up to you to inform HMRC. By the time HMRC pick this up, there will be late notification fines, interest etc.

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/manuals/salfmanual/salf210.htm

I suspect what he meant was that even though being a director alone does not oblige you to register, HMRCs own internal guidance manuals state that being a director is a trigger for a SA notification being sent out so even though you don't legally have to register you might find a notice to file on your doorstep anyway.

Unless you can get this revoked (unlikely but worth a try) then you are then of course obliged to do one but HMRC would have no basis to fine you unless you had also failed to notify then you were chargeable to tax.

chrismac1

I only register director clients for SA where a 40% tax liability is clear, or there is another income source such as rental. Nearly all my director clients are on £10k per year salary, and all RTI submissions for month 5 are fully up to date.

There are around 25 or 30 such clients, some have been clients for 5 years. So for them, that is £500 in accountancy fees saved, plus the risk of fining problems arising from SA reduced to zero. I repeat - why anyone would volunteer to join the totally messed-up UK self-assessment tax system beats me.

System

chrismac1 wrote: »

Why HMRC encourage all these nil returns to clog up the already fully stretched system is beyond me, .

They don't always. When I became a company director I was initially sent a SA by HMRC after registering the company.
But after a few years they saw that I was paid a regular salary under PAYE and wrote and said they no longer needed SA returns. Their request, not mine.

Majestic12

Chris is spot on. The HMRC website is just guidance. Providing there is no other undeclared income or paying taxes above basic rate, there is no need for directors to register for SA.

There is no law or legislation which states a director has to register.

ellahenderson

same here! thanks for the suggestions guys