When you found a business in the UK, you immediately inherit a host of filing requirements. All of a sudden, the full weight of centuries worth of statutory law sits in your shoulders.
In this post, we take a look at some of the UK filing requirements that you’ll need to meet if you own a company.
Confirmation Statements
Depending on the type of business structure you want to set up, you’ll need to create a confirmation statement. These comprise information that you must send to Companies House, even if your company isn’t currently trading.
Confirmation statements are relatively new. They replaced the old Annual Return in 2016.
You’ll need to include the right information on your Confirmation Statement. This includes your company name, the registration number associated with it, the location of company records, details of the offices, statement of capital, shareholders information and trading status. In other words, you have to reveal everything about your company’s financial position to the authorities.
Fortunately, after you complete the first statement, filing the rest is relatively easy. Most of the time, you only need to make small changes and then you can resubmit.
Annual Accounts
The authorities love it when you file your annual accounts. That’s when they get to find out how much tax you owe them.
In your annual accounts, the goal is to report your financial activity for the year. In the UK, the type of accounts you must file depends on how large your business is.
Large companies need to file full statutory accounts. These go into immense detail about the financial position of the company and how it has been using its capital.
The thresholds for a large company change every year. However, if you employ more than 50 people or make in excess of £5 million per year, you’ll need to check if you fall into the category.
There are reporting requirements if you are a part of the LEI database too. You’ll need to provide reference information if you regularly engage in international transactions.
Smaller companies can file abridged company accounts. These are much shorter and don’t require as much forensic detail. Typically, you just need to provide a list of your expenses, revenues and a few other figures. You can file these online, though most companies still use accountants, despite the costs.
If you are a micro-entity and only turnover a small amount of money, your accounts are even smaller – perhaps a few pages long.
Remember, even if your company is dormant, you still need to file accounts. If you don’t, you could wind up being struck off the company register.
Register For Corporation Tax
You’ll need to register for corporation tax with HMRC. You can do this by providing them with the company number, the date you began trading, and the date for your accounts. Once the tax authorities have this information, they will then expect you to send them annual returns, telling them how much tax you owe.
Remember, if any of your company details change, you’ll need to inform HMRC as soon as possible to avoid fines.
