Paying dividend for 2017/2018 after tax year end has passed

[WTFH]

Closing this thread, the OP has deleted his original post and let's not get into an argument as to how far down the dodgy route people can opt to go.

[Hobosapien]

As mentioned, the date of the actual payout doesn't matter, it's when the divi is declared that matters for tax purposes.

I'm not surprised some/most accountants make sure things are above board, and if you happen to have one then it's the price you pay being late with the paperwork (and getting stung with the change of divi tax from £5k to £2k tax free from April 2018) for also having an accountant that will make sure you appear as clean as possible should any HMRC investigation occur.

Note I am not advocating any dodgy practices just saying that filling in paperwork with ink back dated is not the crime of the century. Though if it's worth doing then the tax dodged may mean HMRC think it's good enough for the rubber cosh treatment should they uncover the deed. Your choice, do you fell lucky punk?

[SueEllen]

So if you write out a paper divi declaration dated for a few days ago then are they going to use carbon dating to determine if it was written before or after the valid end date for the last tax year? Thought not.

The paper trail will be required when submitting year end accounts. As long as the paperwork is in order then that is all they will be looking at unless you warrant forensic investigation for other more serious dodgy practices.

This is not advice just 'fact'.

A few accountants refuse to accept dividends paid out late due to advice like this on how to commit fraud. Mine didn't until I pointed out they could check the meta-data on my paperwork. And now with your post on a public forum a few more will be checking this....

[Lance]

So if you write out a paper divi declaration dated for a few days ago then are they going to use carbon dating to determine if it was written before or after the valid end date for the last tax year? Thought not.

The paper trail will be required when submitting year end accounts. As long as the paperwork is in order then that is all they will be looking at unless you warrant forensic investigation for other more serious dodgy practices.

This is not advice just 'fact'.

It is also fraud. #justsaying

[Hobosapien]

So if you write out a paper divi declaration dated for a few days ago then are they going to use carbon dating to determine if it was written before or after the valid end date for the last tax year? Thought not.

The paper trail will be required when submitting year end accounts. As long as the paperwork is in order then that is all they will be looking at unless you warrant forensic investigation for other more serious dodgy practices.

This is not advice just 'fact'.

[jamesbrown]

No and no.

https://forums.contractoruk.com/acco...ml#post2543771

Gosh, I'm shocked.

[jamesbrown]

I think you mean that you forgot to pay a dividend, right?

In that case, you're too late.

In the unlikely event that you really did create the paperwork beforehand then, sure, the tax point for a dividend is when it becomes payable, not when it's actually paid. If a dividend is declared as being payable in 2017/18, then it counts as income for tax purposes in 2017/18, regardless of when it's actually paid. During the intervening period, it would be a loan for accounting purposes.

Generally, you'd want a decent paper trail to justify this. Backdating dividend paperwork is very much not legal and any suspicion surrounding this would probably lead to other questions being asked about how you run your business.

[Lance]

Have you recorded the dividend is to be paid out in your board meeting minutes with yourself and other directors before the tax year ended? Did you write a dividend voucher which dates before the end of the tax year?

If you have done any of these then you can pay out the dividend.

If you haven't then you can't. Also remember documents have meta-data so it can be seen when they were created.

No and no.

https://forums.contractoruk.com/acco...ml#post2543771

[SueEllen]

Have you recorded the dividend is to be paid out in your board meeting minutes with yourself and other directors before the tax year ended? Did you write a dividend voucher which dates before the end of the tax year?

If you have done any of these then you can pay out the dividend.

If you haven't then you can't. Also remember documents have meta-data so it can be seen when they were created.

[numptyface101]

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