We are directors and want to furlough as not a penny coming in.

strawb_shortcake

My local Barclays branch called me yesterday to see how we were coping and did we need any assistance with anything, seems strange that they are unwilling to help.

patch1969

calcotti said:

GILL1993 said: Our accountant says because we  are directors we are not entitled but this seems very unfair and I’m not entirely sure he knows that to be correct, does anyone have anymore information on this please ?

To be a furloughed employee you have to do no work for the business - as a director this is unlikely to be the case.

Why is it unlikely to be the case just because you are a director ? If there's no work, there's no work !

GILL1993 myself and my wife are in exactly the same position as you with around £9000 each in our accounts each year as wages. How do we access the help for employees?  TIA

AdeJ

Hi all, 
thanks for reply’s.
my wife and myself are on PAYE, we get very basic wage but can just about survive on 80% if we get it.
we have zero work, not a penny.....no weddings to provide our services for...no private parties, no corporate events...nothing. Not even an email...we have just shut down. All our events we have had this year have cancelled and a few have postponed till next year. Not had an email from anyone in 2 weeks other than the usual spam.

We can’t survive like this. I can’t even sell our company assets as everyone is in the same boat....and people  can’t collect as our health is rightly first.

fingers crossed for us all that have no income 

AdeJ

annabanana82 said:

My local Barclays branch called me yesterday to see how we were coping and did we need any assistance with anything, seems strange that they are unwilling to help.

Not with us. I did get a text saying they will not charge for a month if we hit our over draft. Apart from that....nothing. Once this is over and we are hopefully back on our feet, all 4 Barclays Bank accounts and mortgages will be moved to another provider.

prowla

As employees of a Limited Company, the furlough process covers up to 80% of Salary.

Unfortunately, in choosing to pay a minimal salary and take the rest as dividends, they're not covered.

As an employee of a Limited company, you are not self-employed.

I don't have an answer to your predicament, but it is one of the pitfalls of going down the Ltd Co. rule and is a clear demonstration of the iniquities of IR35, whereby the taxman wants to pretend you are an employee for tax purposes but the benefits systems says you're not when you need help.

neilmcl

GILL1993 said:

Myself and my husband are both directors of our small ltd company, on our tax returns it’s shows we take £8424.00 in wages and the rest is made up in dividends , we are employees of our company so can we take get Coronavirus virus Job Retention salary ? Our accountant says because we  are directors we are not entitled but this seems very unfair and I’m not entirely sure he knows that to be correct, does anyone have anymore information on this please ?

Thanks

That's the thing though, you're not employees.

patch1969

prowla said:

As employees of a Limited Company, the furlough process covers up to 80% of Salary.

Unfortunately, in choosing to pay a minimal salary and take the rest as dividends, they're not covered.

As an employee of a Limited company, you are not self-employed.

I don't have an answer to your predicament, but it is one of the pitfalls of going down the Ltd Co. rule and is a clear demonstration of the iniquities of IR35, whereby the taxman wants to pretend you are an employee for tax purposes but the benefits systems says you're not when you need help.

Surely the salary is covered by the furlough scheme even though the divident isn't. A ltd company needs a director even if it is a one man band, so the director is still an employee surely ? The question is can a director of a Ltd company claim 80% of their salary through the furlough process if the comapny has no work. So £9000 through the books as salary a year = £750 a month, 80% of which is £600.

neilmcl

patch1969 said:

calcotti said:

GILL1993 said: Our accountant says because we  are directors we are not entitled but this seems very unfair and I’m not entirely sure he knows that to be correct, does anyone have anymore information on this please ?

To be a furloughed employee you have to do no work for the business - as a director this is unlikely to be the case.

Why is it unlikely to be the case just because you are a director ? If there's no work, there's no work !

GILL1993 myself and my wife are in exactly the same position as you with around £9000 each in our accounts each year as wages. How do we access the help for employees?  TIA

As mentioned, as directors of your company you are not classed as an employee even though you may take a salary. You have no contract of employment, you cannot be sacked or made redundant and you cannot be furloughed. Even though the work has dried up you still need to be there to administer your company.

AdeJ

prowla said:

As employees of a Limited Company, the furlough process covers up to 80% of Salary.

Unfortunately, in choosing to pay a minimal salary and take the rest as dividends, they're not covered.

As an employee of a Limited company, you are not self-employed.

I don't have an answer to your predicament, but it is one of the pitfalls of going down the Ltd Co. rule and is a clear demonstration of the iniquities of IR35, whereby the taxman wants to pretend you are an employee for tax purposes but the benefits systems says you're not when you need help.

So as it’s stands, we should both be able to get 80% of our basic wage? That is better than nothing...and nothing is what we are now on!. After bills etc, will leave us £120 a week for food and drink for 4 of us. This will be tight, but manageable. 

It’s about survival financially and health.....never ever in 26 years of running my own business did I ever think I’d be in this situation.

neilmcl

prowla said:

As employees of a Limited Company, the furlough process covers up to 80% of Salary.

Unfortunately, in choosing to pay a minimal salary and take the rest as dividends, they're not covered.

As an employee of a Limited company, you are not self-employed.

I don't have an answer to your predicament, but it is one of the pitfalls of going down the Ltd Co. rule and is a clear demonstration of the iniquities of IR35, whereby the taxman wants to pretend you are an employee for tax purposes but the benefits systems says you're not when you need help.

It's not a simple as that. As I've already posted, a director of a limited company, specifically of the type we're talking about here, is not an employee regardless of whether or how much they take as salary.