Hello everyone,
I have traded for the last two months and have only today registered my company as Ltd.
Is it possible to back date my accounts with companies house so that my last two months of trade are included?
Or
Do I stick with today as my financial year and just include the past two months when it comes to filing.
Thanks :)
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Replies (13)
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Trading prior to incorporation
If you have incorporated a company then Companies House will provide a certificate of incorporation. That shows the date of incorporation.
A company comes into existence on the day it is incorporated.
Any transactions prior to that date were not undertaken by the company & must not be reflected in any accounts of the company.
The first 'year' of the company will start with the date of incorporation and (normally) end at the end of the month one year after the date of incorporation.
It sounds as if you have been trading as a sole trader for the past couple of months. Speak to an accountant (sooner rather than later) if you are unsure how to declare this activity to HMRC.
David
No you can't move the incorporation date backwards.
No you can't include transactions in a company's accounts that were undertaken by someone else, especially when they were undertaken when the company did not exist.
You seem to have been trading as a sole trader up to now. Take advice from your accountant about when and how (or indeed whether) you should now transfer your business and its assets into the company.
The answer to your question is 'neither'.
As you have been advised the company can not have traded before it existed. It would be a bit like having a passport before you had been conceived.
I have no idea how you have been agreeing contracts and issuing your invoices, but it couldn't be in the company name and with the company registration number, could it?
Thanks for the great replies.
I have just been raising invoices under my own name.
If I have got it right, it looks like I will have to be a sole trader for the the last two months and claim this under my Self-Assessment next year.
And from today process items under my new companies name.
Def sounds like I need some advice from my accountant friend.
Thanks
There some areas that will need dealt with/checked
Thanks for the great replies.
I have just been raising invoices under my own name.
If I have got it right, it looks like I will have to be a sole trader for the the last two months and claim this under my Self-Assessment next year.
And from today process items under my new companies name.
Def sounds like I need some advice from my accountant friend.
Thanks
As the earlier posters advised, engage an accountant sooner rather than later. Some of the areas, and there are likely quite a few more I have not listed, you need/ may need to deal with are:
Notifying HMRC that you commenced trading as self employed (albeit only for 2 months) to ensure they are advised within the requisite time limits; also Class II NI may/may not need to be paid (subject to two months profits), irrespective some paperwork needs completed.
If you, as self employed, transferred plant/equipment to the company from the self employed business then certain steps may be advisable re capital allowances. Dealing with other transfers of value at the changeover is advisable,
HMRC need advised, if not done, re commencement of trading of company.
Company bank account needs opened to avoid later issues re loans to director.
Evaluation of whether company car is advisable or charging company for business use of own car is better solution.
Advice, if appropriate, of use of house as office claims/mechanics.
In addition the following may need considered:
Is the company a personal service company?
Company may need a PAYE scheme set up.
Company maybe ought to consider vat implications.
Company maybe ought to consider CIS implications/ registration
Company maybe should consider AE implications
The point is a large number of these probably are not on point for the particular business, but possibly other issues not mentioned are on point. G etting an accountant to run his/her eye over events and provide a road map, even if you then organise the steps yourself, is a worthwhile exercise.
You said it yourself
I have just been raising invoices under my own name.
Here's the key point. If you were raising invoices under your own name, you were trading under your own name.
Fortunately, that shouldn't be disastrous.
I should imagine your question is merely the tip of the iceberg. Appoint an accountant asap.
Registering a company is a bit like conceiving a baby - it is deceptively easy, done in a moment and all for the price of a few glasses of wine.
Nine months after conceiving a baby, you just won't believe how complicated and difficult your life suddenly gets. Be assured that having a company is just like that. Get an accountant, quick.
Great
Registering a company is a bit like conceiving a baby - it is deceptively easy, done in a moment and all for the price of a few glasses of wine.
Nine months after conceiving a baby, you just won't believe how complicated and difficult your life suddenly gets. Be assured that having a company is just like that. Get an accountant, quick.
What a fantastic analogy - can I have permission to tweet this?
Buy an off the shelf company
Given that you've been raising invoices in your own name, you've been a sole trader and you have no alternative options,
BUT, for the benefit of other readers who may be in a similar position, there is the option, if the circumstances are right, to buy an "off the shelf" company that had been formed a few months ago, and adopt it's name for your trade, and then you could probably get away with using it for the past months. BUT, I must say, it's a matter of getting away with it, rather than it being technically correct and legal to do it. And of course, it only applies if you've not been issuing paperwork such as contracts, sales invoices, purchase orders, etc - so it may just about work if you had a shop or trade where your sales and purchases were all in cash or your expenses were all personally incurred "out of pocket" such as postage, public transport etc where the usual expenses reimbursement claims would be expected anyway.
What?
BUT, I must say, it's a matter of getting away with it, rather than it being technically correct and legal to do it.
I find this a disgraceful suggestion for an accountant, if you are one, to make on a public forum.
Please share with us whether you would be content to prepare accounts and tax returns for a client on the basis you set out, if asked to do so.
Still "pre-existence" problems
there is the option, if the circumstances are right, to buy an "off the shelf" company that had been formed a few months ago, and adopt it's name for your trade, and then you could probably get away with using it for the past months.Leaving aside the moral question for the moment, this is not a solution that doesn't leave a trail anyway.
The assumption is that, with the incorporation date prior to trading commencing, there is no way the ruse can be spotted. The transfer of shares and the appointment of directors, both a matter of public record, would show when an off the shelf company was acquired. Yes, it would take a little more investigation to spot, but still a long way from the perfect crime. It is a very dangerous way of dealing with a situation that could have been avoided entirely by thinking ahead.