UK New Limited Company - first year end

[captain]

Hi there - this is my first post on this forum as I wanted some general advice on the tasks required after the first year end of a new limited company both as a company and individual.

I set up a limited company in Apr 2014 with me being the only employee and director. I've been paying regular salaries from my company to myself through HMRC's basic tool with the view of taking a dividend once corporation tax has been paid. I'm trying to put together a task/checklist of all the things that I need to do. Ideally I would prefer to do this myself as opposed to going through an accountant. So far I have gathered I need to do the following:

1. Companies House annual return - completed
2. Complete all PAYE requirements for tax year 14/15 as an employer (I'm actually due money from HRMC so I think I can claim this and record it as income for 14/15 year?)
3. Record all income and expenses from first day of company to the end of first accounting period - maintained on a simple excel
4. Complete company tax return on HMRC's website
5. File Companies House annual accounts (same as number 3? or will I need to purchase 'tagging' software for this to be completed?)
6. Work out the post tax dividend and pay this to shareholders (not quite sure what is involved here yet)
7. Complete HMRC's self assessment as an employee and director recording salary and dividend received.
(I'm not VAT registered)

I managed to come up with the above by going through all my previous correspondance and having a check online.

I just wanted to make sure I'm not missing anything and the above is complete. Or if anybody could direct me to a link or somewhere which would explain each of the steps required that would be great.

Sorry for the long post.

Many thanks in advance
Captain

 

[Fidget]

this might help:

https://www.gov.uk/first-company-accounts-and-return

 

[Becky]

Welcome to the forum @captain

It's always a difficult one when someone asks for a list of all their obligations - without a large amount of information it would be very difficult to confirm exactly what you obligations are. That being said, as you now have a limited company there are standard obligations which all trading companies need to meet.

When you are thinking about it, I would strongly recommend separating the tax side of things (ie all your annual obligations with HMRC, which includes corporation tax and returns, PAYE, VAT, etc) from your accounting obligations and filing requirements with Companies House. For each obligation, make sure you know when it falls due and come up with some way to remind yourself way in advance so that you don't incur late filing/payment penalties.

From looking at your list, the obvious thing you have missed off is tax payments - both of corporation tax, and personal tax - HMRC won't let you forget those ones though!

 

[AdviceNeeded]

Hi there, just dipping in after posting a question myself.

You mention you'd prefer to not use an accountant. In my experience, they can save you more money than they cost. I operated as a sole trader for years, and all went well with self-assessment etc, but when we transitioned to be a company I engaged an accountant, and they've saved me more money than they cost - not to mention time.

Your time may be better spent running your business - just something to consider...