Closing company - overpaid PAYE - hodling up closure

[booms]

Hi all

I paid myself a lump sum of £8840 back in May with no intention of paying myself any more for the year. My accountant calculated a one off payment of PAYE £1441 which was paid to the HMRC.

What I'd assumed would happen, and I think has happened before in prior years, was that this would be the end of it as far as my company was concerned and I'd just claim back the £1441 in my self assessment for 21/22 assuming no other income.

However what's actually happened is that Freeagent is slowly unwinding this through payroll and showing offsetting PAYE assets and liabilities. I've questioned why it has to be this way and been told 'it's always like this'. Hmm.

Now I want to close my company ASAP. My accountant is saying that the overpaid PAYE will need to be requested to be paid back to the company, and so that's holding up the company closure.

This all seems a bit unnecessary. I've had employers who have messed up my tax in various ways over the years, and it's just got corrected in a self assessment rather than waiting for actual cash flows from HMRC to my employer to me.

Can anyone sense check what my accountant is saying? This was an accountant recommended on the forum years ago...

[john@UKCA]

Hi all

I paid myself a lump sum of £8840 back in May with no intention of paying myself any more for the year. My accountant calculated a one off payment of PAYE £1441 which was paid to the HMRC.

However what's actually happened is that Freeagent is slowly unwinding this through payroll and showing offsetting PAYE assets and liabilities. I've questioned why it has to be this way and been told 'it's always like this'. Hmm.

Can anyone sense check what my accountant is saying? This was an accountant recommended on the forum years ago...

You should have marked the lump sum payment (FPS submission) as a Final submission by ticking the PAYE scheme ceased’ box and specify the date the PAYE scheme was to close in the ‘Date scheme ceased’ box.

[Lance]

This all seems a bit unnecessary. I've had employers who have messed up my tax in various ways over the years, and it's just got corrected in a self assessment rather than waiting for actual cash flows from HMRC to my employer to me.

How many of those employers were trying to close the company?

[northernladuk]

Your accountant allowed you to pay yourself before you'd worked it? I thought that was a complete no no. You could not pay yourself all year and pay yourself after the even but not for before you worked it? I'm sure we've had threads saying you can't do this. Can't remember one saying you can.

Did they highlight this risk to you or just let you get on with it?