Deregistering for VAT

[JoJoGabor]

I am taking a break from contracting (going permie) until the market picks up. I want to leave my lts company open but deregister for VAT so I dont have to keep doin gVAT returns every 3 months. I have notified HMRC who have sent a "Business Assets and stock" questionnaire back asking about total value of stock and assets.

The onlybusiness asset (apart from priceless amount of experience and wealth of knowledge .. ahem) is a laptop, current value after depreciation of £599 and a small amount of stock. Question 4 is...

Have you already accounted for any tax due on your stock and assets on your VAT return?

ANy idea what this means? I'm on the FRS. My accountant has done my annual accounts, but I'm not sure what they mean by this question. I cant ask the accountat as I am trying to avoid their £250 fee for company closure!!!

[xoggoth]

You don't have to account for any VAT on stock/assets worth less than £1k from memory, so the question should be immaterial. Academic anyway. There is some full guidance on the HMRC site.

later
Actually that's if the total VAT due on the assets would be £1,000 or less.

[sal626]

If you are leaving the company open - but I assume you are not going to be processing any invoices through the company, why bother deregistering for VAT?

When the VAT return comes, just put "nil" everywhere and sign and return it, I've done this before with a company that stayed open but was not "trading" for about a year....

Sounds like its more hassle to de-register....

[JoJoGabor]

In hidsight I would probably agree but I'm halfway through the process now. On a related note - do you need to inform comapnies house that you are not trading? THis could be for 1 - 2 years

[sal626]

In hidsight I would probably agree but I'm halfway through the process now. On a related note - do you need to inform comapnies house that you are not trading? THis could be for 1 - 2 years

Not sure, but I think unless you are completing closing the company down, you still have some reporting requirements - i.e. have to compelte a return (and sumbit accounts?)...even if you are not trading.... Best to ask them....

[expat]

In hidsight I would probably agree but I'm halfway through the process now. On a related note - do you need to inform comapnies house that you are not trading? THis could be for 1 - 2 years

In a technical sense it is not necessarily true that you are not trading. AFAIK you have a choice: you could make the company officially dormant, or you could just do nothing: the company has not stopped trading, it just happens not to have had a lot of action recently. How much business you do (including zero) is not Companies House's business.

If you have been paying PAYE and are about to stop doing so, I would call HMRC and tell them so, to stop them worrying about why they're not getting any tax from you any more. You don't have to do that, but it makes life easier.

[Little'Old Me]

In hidsight I would probably agree but I'm halfway through the process now. On a related note - do you need to inform comapnies house that you are not trading? THis could be for 1 - 2 years

Not exactly. You still need to complete annual returns and pay the fee, and you could submit Dormant Accounts yourself. If you are not trading, its just a case of bring forward the balance sheet figures each year....... until you start to trade.

[xoggoth]

Not entirely sure that's right. I thought you could still have some activites like interest from bank accounts and necessary expenses to fulfil legal obligations like filing accounts etc. but take advantage of a reduced "not trading" accounts format. It's all on Co Hse website anyway.