T4 Forms

Accounts and Corporation Tax Year End Checklist

CHECKLIST:Accounts-and-CT-Year-End-v2

CHECKLIST:Accounts-and-CT-Year-End-v2

ESTIMATED TIME TO COMPLETE: 5 MINUTES

BACKGROUND

YOUR DETAILS

e.g. A111 (if not sure just leave blank)
Enter company name in full including the Limited at the end
of Director that will sign the accounts
of Director that will sign the accounts
For most submissions you will also get a copy of what you tell us, by email.

ACCOUNTING YEAR

The form relates to the accounting period we are in the process of finalising.
Select year in list
Select month in list

BOOKKEEPING, INCOME & EXPENSES

Relating to the above accounting period
Did all the income for the company go through the business bank accounts, business credit cards which are linked to Quickbooks?
Quickbooks links directly to many business accounts or credit cards and imports transactions in real time. If you pay for business expenses via a) your own personal bank account, b) personal credit cards or c) business accounts that cannot be linked directly to Quickbooks this can increase the risk of errors or things being missed. It also increases the time and costs of adding these other external items into accounting records.
All income and expenses need to be included in the year end accounts, CT600 returns etc. You don't need to list or add specific item details here we will liaise with you separately on how to get these external items added.
Are you aware paying business expenses from personal bank or credit cards increases risk of errors, things being missed and increases bookkeeping time and costs?
Expenses, to be tax deductible for a business (and not taxable on the employee), MUST BE "wholly and exclusively" for the purposes of the company's business, i.e. no private use or benefit for the employee.
HMRC, and record keeping
It is an HMRC legal requirement that businesses maintain sufficient records of income and expenses (e.g. invoices, receipts, bank statements) to support a claim a a deduction. For VAT registered businesses obtaining and keeping valid VAT receipts and records.

Gov.uk Guidance

LINK: Running a limited company - your responsibilities

and:  advice about keeping VAT records and valid VAT receipts

COMPANY ASSETS

Does the company own a van or vans?
Do any directors or employees use company vans for ANY "private use"?
See Gov.uk/HMRC Link to definition of Private Use (below)

See the following link for HMRC guidance on what they view as "private use".

https://www.gov.uk/expenses-and-benefits-company-vans

(Link opens a new tab)

"Business journeys and commuting"

A business journey is defined as a trip:

  • made as part of work (such as a service engineer travelling between appointments)
  • to a temporary workplace

Vans used for ‘insignificant’ private journeys are exempt, for example making a slight detour to pick up a newspaper on the way to work.

Does the company own any company cars?

See link below for HMRC guidance on Company Cars

https://www.gov.uk/tax-company-benefits/tax-on-company-cars

(Link opens a new tab)

A private journey would include "commuting" to and from your normal place of work, or any other journey that is not specifically travel to or from a business activity.

NB: HMRC has recently stated that dual cab open back pickup trucks that weigh over 3500kg are vans for tax purposes.

Do any directors or employees use company cars for ANY "private use"?
See Gov.uk/HMRC Link to definition of Private Use (above). NOTE cars can never be taken home by employees (otherwise taxable) i.e. must be kept at business premises not the employee or directors home.
Does the company have a "No private use" agreement (of ANY company assets) signed by all employees and directors?
If HMRC suggested that there is, or maybe, private use of any company asset, this could create a tax liability on that asset. This could affect both the employer and the employee or director. Hence, it is important to be able to demonstrate to HMRC, with documentation, that no private use of business assets is allowed and staff sufficiently informed.
Company Policy (Staff Manual) manual. Cover various regulatory issues (e.g. disciplinary, use of business assets etc).
T4 use "Bright Contracts", HR specialists, for Employee Contracts, Office (Staff) Manuals, and Employee Privacy Policy (part Data Protection Rules) documents. (May incur separate fees for use of the Bright Contracts resource, call us to discuss).

IMPORTANT

It is important to be able to demonstrate to HMRC that there is no private use of business assets by any employees or directors.

T4 has some specific advice about HMRC & Risk and useful information about reducing HMRC risk associated with vans particularly. 

We have A) a video you can view via our website and B) an example "no private use agreement" we think covers most of the points that could be an issue with HMRC.

See our Payroll Tax Year End page.

COMPANY FUNDS

Are you aware that it is important to keep sufficient funds in the company to pay for Corporation Tax (CT), PAYE, VAT etc?
Failing to keep sufficient funds to pay taxes on time, throughout an accounting period can lead to a company becoming insolvent which can have various negative consequences.
Earning interest on tax savings and reserves (e.g. Aldermore.co.uk, Tide.co and others).
If a savings account cannot be linked directly to Quickbooks (e.g. Aldermore.co.uk and "savings pots" in app based banks like Monzo) the trick is to opt to get the interest paid into your elected main business bank account (where Quickbooks can then track the interest received). This saves a lot of bookkeeping time otherwise spent manually entering and reconciling interest earned.
Are you aware that borrowing funds from your company has tax consequences for both the employee/director and for the company?
Broadly speaking directors and employees cannot borrow more than £10,000 from the company without triggering tax charges. This is the limit DURING an account period (Income Tax Consequences). However, by the company's year end NO loan should be in place (Corp Tax consequences), and the director should not have an overdrawn director loan account (DLA) for at least the first 31 days of the month following the end of the accounting period (Corp Tax consequences).
Are you aware that using company funds to pay personal expenses of directors or employees risks HMRC adjusting the tax liabilities (plus fines) of both the company and the employee?
Common examples of personal expenses HMRC look for include, food, clothing, private or "commuting" travel expenses, other travel costs, home utility bills, private health insurance or care costs. Expenses to be for business purposes have to be "wholly, exclusively and necessarily in performance of the employees duties of employment" and cannot generally have any private element or private benefit.
Are you aware that personal expenses or benefits provided by the company for a director or employee MUST be declared on form P11D or taxed via payroll?
Personal expenses claimed by a company must be declared by the employer to HMRC on form P11D or taxed via Payroll. Failure to declare or tax personal expenses or "benefits in kind" can lead to substantial fines by HMRC.
Does your company, or have you considered, if the company could benefit from a Pension Scheme for the Directors?
T4 Tax Limited is not authorised under the Financial Services Act to give specific advice about investments including pensions. However, we can give general advice about the tax implications of investments.

USE OF OWN ASSETS IN BUSINESS

Do you use your OWN car or van(not owed by the business) for business journeys?
This is just to give us an indication of your level of use of your own car for business journeys it is not an actual calculation for Mileage Allowance claims from the company using HMRC approved mileage rates. It is advisable to keep detailed logs of business journeys in your own car (in excel or a mileage app), i.e. a "mileage log", and to provide copies to T4.

HMRC Guidance on Mileage Allowance Claims, rates etc (£0.45 per mile for first 10,000 business miles then £0.25 p/mile) Sometimes referred to as AMAP (Approved Mileage Allowance Payment), or MAP (Mileage Allowance Payment)

LINK: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/rates-and-allowances-travel-mileage-and-fuel-allowances/travel-mileage-and-fuel-rates-and-allowances

(Opens a New Tab)

Do you (the directors) work from home?
Many small business are run from home addresses. Where the business address is the same as home address we usually make a small claim for "use of home" in accounts, in line with HMRC guidelines.

CHANGES DURING THE TAX YEAR

CHANGES during the accounting period, or since.
Select ALL or ANY that apply to you for the tax year concerned.
If you can't remember the exact date enter the last day of the month you moved
Please enter full new address including postcode.

OTHER REMINDERS (Director Responsibilities)

This section includes some reminders about regulations and possible requirements for business and directors, that are not part of our service, but are items directors should ensure they are aware of. (There may be others relevant to your specific business such as Anti Money Laundering Regulations, supervision, professional memberships etc).
Business Insurance (Professional Indemnity)
Employer Insurance
NOTE: If more than one director or any employees Employer Insurance is a LEGAL REQUIREMENT (from as low as £60 per annum)
Gov.uk Guidance of Employer Liability Insurance:

LINK: https://www.gov.uk/employers-liability-insurance (opens new window)

Summary:

"You must get Employers’ Liability (EL) insurance as soon as you become an employer - your policy must cover you for at least £5 million and come from an authorised insurer.

EL insurance will help you pay compensation if an employee is injured or becomes ill because of the work they do for you.

You may not need EL insurance if you only employ a family member or someone who is based abroad.

You can be fined £2,500 every day you are not properly insured."

Information Commissioner (ICO) (Data Protection & GDPR Regulations)
We recommend clients register with the ICO. Better safe than sorry. Annual fee (easily automated on direct debit approx. £40 per annum). Most businesses hold some "personal" data about customers, suppliers, or employees and would therefore be required to be registered with the ICO.

Here is a link to the ICO register so you can search to check your business is registered:

(links open in new windows)

SEARCH REGISTER: https://ico.org.uk/ESDWebPages/Search

REGHISTER WITH ICO:

REGISTER LINK: https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/data-protection-fee/

If you hold client or customer personal information on a computer (e.g. in Quickbooks or on your phone or computer) you must be registered as a data holder with the ICO.  The annual fee that can be paid by direct debit to avoid forgetting to pay is usually about £40 per annum.

There are substantial fines for failing to be registered with the ICO.

 

SIGNING THE ACCOUNTS

Will you be the only director approving and signing the accounts and corporation tax return?
Name of 2nd Director Signing (if applicable)
Name of 2nd Director Signing (if applicable)
First
Last
Name of 3rd Director signing (if applicable)
Name of 3rd Director signing (if applicable)
First
Last

T4 FEES & ADMIN

We need to update you about our fee policy and compliance and admin issues.
T4 charge monthly fees for bookkeeping, payroll and vat related work
T4 charge annual fees for year end accounts
"Working Together" Engagement Agreements
Email Communications - t4.office@t4tax.com email address
T4 has a single central team email address which is monitored by our team for efficient use of email.
WhatApp Communications
T4 often uses Whatapp Group Chats with clients for efficient communications with clients and to keep our team and our clients "in the loop" for efficient communications and information sharing.

OTHER INFORMATION OR UPLOADS (optional)

In this section you can upload documents to help us with your accounts preparation or alternatively you can share these with us via email to t4.office@t4tax.com or via WhatsApp.
For example, if you were not sure of any of your answers you can add any further comment here to let us know.

Maximum file size: 8MB

Types, jpg, jpeg, PNG or PDF only. Max file size per file 8MB, max number of files you can add is 10.

FEEDBACK & SIGN

1 star = very difficult to 5 stars = easy
We need your agreement to the following:
We need your agreement to the following:
We need your agreement to the following:
NOTE: Allow up to 30 seconds for the form to submit after clicking on submit. You will get confirmation or be redirected to anything not completed. The document will be treated as dated the date you submit it.

Thank You

Our Checklists and Forms help ensure up to date information and accuracy