Director question on Self Assessment Tax Return

[Scotlet]

Hi,

I set up my Ltd Co in the Tax Year 2010/2011, but did not register for PAYE until 2011/2012 as I did not start invoicing / paying salary etc for a few months (until 2011/2012). Looking at my SATR technically I should include MyCo as well as previous permie employer as I was a director in 2010/2011. The figures will all be 0 however my concern is that is asks for a PAYE ref for MyCo / says the figures can be found on P60 etc. Whilst I have a PAYE ref now, it was issued this tax year and I did not produce a P60 / any other PAYE paperwork for last year. Should I just enter none for PAYE ref as there was nothing in place last year? My concern about entering my reference is that it might trigger something that will question why no returns were produced last year (even though the ref was not issued until this year).

Will check with my accountant (and even thought about phoning Hector ) but would appreciate comments from anyone who had the same issue on start-up.

Cheers,

[xoggoth]

Did mine just before xmas and did not fill section for my company as it was not trading in the year and there was no relevant salary, expenses or divis. Click the help on your online SA next to box where you select employers' sections and it does say you don't need to complete if no relevant transactions.

I kept a note of it just in case:

From notes to self assessment form section 3
You will not need to complete the Employment pages if you:
• Were a company director and received no payments of any kind or benefits from that directorship

[Nixon Williams]

Hi,

I set up my Ltd Co in the Tax Year 2010/2011, but did not register for PAYE until 2011/2012 as I did not start invoicing / paying salary etc for a few months (until 2011/2012). Looking at my SATR technically I should include MyCo as well as previous permie employer as I was a director in 2010/2011. The figures will all be 0 however my concern is that is asks for a PAYE ref for MyCo / says the figures can be found on P60 etc. Whilst I have a PAYE ref now, it was issued this tax year and I did not produce a P60 / any other PAYE paperwork for last year. Should I just enter none for PAYE ref as there was nothing in place last year? My concern about entering my reference is that it might trigger something that will question why no returns were produced last year (even though the ref was not issued until this year).

Will check with my accountant (and even thought about phoning Hector ) but would appreciate comments from anyone who had the same issue on start-up.

Cheers,

You only need to declare actual income on your tax return, so if you did not receive any income from your own company in 2010/11 then there is no need to enter any details onto the tax return.

Alan

[Contreras]

Hi Scotlet, I had a similar issue - trading for a whole year after company start-up without paying out anything to myself. What xoggoth said is correct but I would add a comment in the Any Other Information box to the effect of "No payments or benefits received as director of Your Co. during the 2010-11 tax year therefore in accordance with HMRC guidance no employment page is included for this directorship."

The HMRC guidance says:

You will not need to complete an Employment page if you:
• held an office (but you were not a director) and only received reimbursed
actual out of pocket expenses (no other payments were made to you at all)
• were a company director and received no payments of any kind or benefits
from that directorship
• held an office or employment but no liability to UK Income Tax arises on
those earnings because you were resident, ordinarily resident or domiciled
outside the UK. (If you held two or more offices or employments with the
same employer or associated employers and earnings from, say, one are
chargeable to UK Income Tax but earnings from the other are not, you
should complete an Employment page for both or all the associated
employments. If you are unsure, contact us for advice.)
If any of the above applies to you, say why you are not completing an
Employment page in the ‘Any other information’ box, box 19 on page TR 6.

I haven't checked where this leaves a non-salaried director with out of pocket expenses or with travel and subsistence costs covered directly by the Co. Does the Co. need to be PAYE registered just to reimburse expenses?, or to cover items that would normally need to be declared on a P11D ? :shrug: I would hope not.

[Scotlet]

Thanks all. Not completing the section, but keeping a note of the HMRC guidelines confirming this sounds like the way to go. Contreras, I'll need to log on to see if there is an Any Other information box online as the guidance you have sounds like it relates to the paper form, but if there is I'll add a note referencing the online guidance to be on the safe side.

Cheers.

[Scotlet]

Thanks All. As suggested did not complete an Employment section, added a note to Any Other Information box as to why and kept a copy of the on-line help notes. Should keep me covered in case of any queries.

Cheers,

[xoggoth]

Does the Co. need to be PAYE registered just to reimburse expenses?, or to cover items that would normally need to be declared on a P11D ?

You can always claim back expenses in subsequent years. Forget how long but there is guidance on HMRC site.