Started Ltd company, do I file self assessment? when?

anonymousjohn

Hi!

Myself and 3 others formed a limited company in June this year (2018). The company currently has no financial transactions as we haven't started trading.

My question is two-fold:

1) Is it correct that I need to register my self assessment as a director, even if there are no financial transactions?

2) Does this need to be done October of this year, or next?

Many thanks,

AJ

Dazed_and_confused

1). No.

2). If it was necessary it would be next year (for income starting in the current, 2018:19, tax year).

anonymousjohn

Dazed_and_confused wrote: »

1). No.

2). If it was necessary it would be next year (for income starting in the current, 2018:19, tax year).

Nice and short, thanks for your help!

TheCyclingProgrammer

Just to add to the previous - and correct - post, if you check on the HMRC website they will tell you that you do need to register for self assessment if you're a company director. This however, is a load of rubbish. You only need to notify HMRC if you become chargeable to tax (i.e. you have income that has not already been taxed at source).

As a company director and presumably also a shareholder, this will most likely be whenever you start taking dividends from the company profits that exceed the dividend nil rate band (£2000).

It is possible that HMRC will pick up on their systems that you are a company director and they *may* send you a notice to file a tax return at some point even if you haven't notified them. If they do this you'll need to submit a tax return (unless you can convince them to withdraw the notice - unlikely).

anonymousjohn

TheCyclingProgrammer wrote: »

Just to add to the previous - and correct - post, if you check on the HMRC website they will tell you that you do need to register for self assessment if you're a company director. This however, is a load of rubbish. You only need to notify HMRC if you become chargeable to tax (i.e. you have income that has not already been taxed at source).

As a company director and presumably also a shareholder, this will most likely be whenever you start taking dividends from the company profits that exceed the dividend nil rate band (£2000).

It is possible that HMRC will pick up on their systems that you are a company director and they *may* send you a notice to file a tax return at some point even if you haven't notified them. If they do this you'll need to submit a tax return (unless you can convince them to withdraw the notice - unlikely).

Thanks, very helpful.

Entirely separate to the Ltd company, I am currently a student and do sell on eBay etc, both my revenue and income are less than the tax-free threshold by some margin. It is, however, over the £1000 limit they say makes you a business trader.

Is it worth me just applying for self assessment and putting in the numbers, even if not actually due to pay tax? Seems like it would save hassle as it's unlikely I'd be audited for that level of income.

Thanks again!

TheCyclingProgrammer

If you’ve been trading on a self employed basis then you may be liable to class 2 NIC. You should notify HMRC if you’re self employed although I’m not sure under what legislative basis you need to notify them if your earnings are below both the tax and NI thresholds.

If you expect to be earning dividends at some point anyway then there’s certainly no harm in registering now.