Quick Ltd company tax question

Dis86

Dis86

Dis86

Caporegime
Joined
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Location
Northern England
I have a limited company set up in my name for 9 months but which I've never required for trading but would like to keep the name.
To be clear there has been no business activity at all associated with this company.
I've had conflicting information from the .gov contact that I've had, one told me that since its never traded it's automatically kept as dormant and so I'm not required to file any tax return another has said that unless I specifically declare the company as dormant i am required to provide one.
Does anyone here know which option is correct?

Cheers folks!
 
I've not personally dealt with this before but checking .gov site there is a difference between 'dormant' and 'non-trading', though the two are used inter-changeably

If it's been dormant since registration, you have to inform the HMRC and then you don't need to file accounts at companies house (check if you need to file anything else - you may have to still do the annual confirmation statement which is the old annual return)

If it's traded before but is now dormant, you have to inform the HMRC and need to file a simple set of accounts at companies house, a simple balance sheet but no p&L, corporation tax return or directors report

Check out these 3 pages

https://www.gov.uk/dormant-company/overview
 
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It has been awhile since I've dealt with this you can either file dormant company account or you can file small business accounts and just put 0 for everything. Reading this would help you out (link below). The way I did it was download a PDF (unfortunately it only seems to work properly in the Adobe Acrobat Reader) and fill in the form it will then calculate everything for you and you just submit it over the internet. It seems there is now an online version but I've used that way so have no idea if it is better or worse than the PDF solution.

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/corporation-tax-use-hmrcs-free-filing-software

Of course I am neither a lawyer or an accountant so take my advice with a pinch of salt. I have run two limited companies though and didn't get in any trouble so I assume what I did was OK.
 
Cheers gents, Freak it looks like you've found one of the sources referenced. I'll let HMRC know since it's been dormant since reg.
 
You have to notify hmrc within 3 months of starting business. If you've not started, you don't have to notify. When you start business is a grey area, but it generally means when you have a source of income.

There's no harm in contacting hmrc to double check they're not expecting anything, but if you don't even have a UTR number - you probably don't if you've not notified them - then you might struggle to get through the phone system to someone who'll talk to you.

/tax adviser
 
Correct Vonhelmet I don't and that caused me a problem last time I tried to call them!
 
I'd just leave it, to be honest. They'd have to send you a ct603 notice to file before you have to submit a return anyway, so if you've not had one of those you're fine.
 
In my experience HMRC send a CT603 to every newly formed company within a few months of incorporation, so I would want to double check this hasn't been issued in case it's gone missing.

If the company does not trade and has no sources of income, and you haven't received received a CT603, the company has no corporation tax filing obligation with HMRC.
 
weringo said:
If the company does not trade and has no sources of income, and you haven't received received a CT603, the company has no corporation tax filing obligation with HMRC.
Click to expand...

If you somehow get this wrong and don't submit a filling the company could get struck off though so I'd be very careful about this unless you don't mind the company getting struck off.
 
Cromulent said:
If you somehow get this wrong and don't submit a filling the company could get struck off though so I'd be very careful about this unless you don't mind the company getting struck off.
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I think you're mistaking HMRC filing obligations with Companies House filing obligations. If you fail to filing your accounts/annual return with Companies House the company will automatically be struck off after a certain period of time. HMRC however will just keep sending you penalty notices until you file.
 
You won't get struck off by HMRC. HMRC will oppose any striking off if you haven't filed your tax returns and they think they're owed money.
 
weringo said:
I think you're mistaking HMRC filing obligations with Companies House filing obligations. If you fail to filing your accounts/annual return with Companies House the company will automatically be struck off after a certain period of time. HMRC however will just keep sending you penalty notices until you file.
Click to expand...

Ah, OK. My mistake. Thanks for the correction.
 
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