SMP situation - seeking advice from accountants

[bluedrop]

I am a one person contractor ltd company. I started claiming my maternity leave in December. Later I decided to close down the company (going plan B route). Upon my accountant's advice, we did the accounts until end of May and paid the corporation tax etc. My accountant's opinion was that I could claim the rest of my SMP (13 weeks) from HMRC directly or claim maternity allowance. When I called HMRC, they said my company must claim advance funding from HMRC and pay it out to the employee (myself) in one payment (this option was NEVER mentioned by my accountant)
My file is all done and dusted with my accountants - ready for MVL. I didn't initiate MVL yet as I am waiting for my SMP refund from HMRC (accountant messed up SMP payments, they had to re-do my payslips and claim a refund).

In summary, here I am, well into September, 13 weeks SMP outstanding, accounts finalised in May and corporation tax etc paid, VAT de-registered.
I am going back and forth between the accountant and HMRC - they views don't match !

Can I please ask an accountant here to advice what my next steps should be?

[chopper]

Can I please ask an accountant here to advice what my next steps should be?

Google is your friend

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=claim+smp+from+hmrc

leads to

https://www.gov.uk/recover-statutory...nts/reclaiming

[bluedrop]

Google is your friend

Let me google that for you

leads to

https://www.gov.uk/recover-statutory...nts/reclaiming

Thanks, but I am not asking "how to claim SMP from HMRC"

Its about what to do now, given that my company has already filed its last corporation tax return, paid tax and closed down?

[Darren at Fox-Bartfield]

SMP

Do you know if the SMP refund/payments were all accounted for in the cessation accounts? If not, best ask your accountant as he'll be aware what has been put in there by way of accruals, directors loan, creditors, etc.

The tax office won't have this detail although they will know which returns have been filed and the information within the payroll returns. This data should also have been passed to the liquidators to do the MVL.

If amended returns are needed, then the accountants should be able to correct and resubmit but be an idea to check the detail behind the figures of the original submissions.

What are you being told by HMRC and your accountants?

[bluedrop]

Thanks Darren

I claimed SMP for 26weeks. SMP and the refund from HMRC was all accounted for in the cessation accounts.
The question is regarding the rest of the SMP (13 weeks). My accountant said I can claim it directly from HMRC once my company closes. Based on this advice, I went ahead with finalising my accounts and preparing for MVP.
I called HMRC - they say my company has to request for advance funding and then the company needs to make a one time payment to cover the SMP in full.
If I do this now, do i have to do my company accounts again? Do I have to make the remaining SMP Payments via payroll ?

[Darren at Fox-Bartfield]

SMP

Did your accountant suggest claiming directly from HMRC or the Job Centre?

Ideally, this should have all been arranged and claimed a long time ago but I suspect you already know this.

If the company has to claim further SMP then it's not ready to close until after receipt and paid out which also means further returns to be submitted. I'd suggest you go back to your accountants and ask them how to claim from HMRC or whether they'll keep things ticking over until received. This may be of use to you (link) as you can claim it directly from the job centre but will require some paperwork to support the application which your accountant should be able to assist with.

I don't know your current financial circumstances but the timing may well be important, especially with a little one on the way. I'd suggest getting timescales from the accountants/job centre/MVL guys so you know where you stand.

[bluedrop]

my accountants have been utterly useless in the last few months. i see little sense in going back to them to sort it out unfortunately.