what are divident vouchers?

i am 50 shareholder and secretary

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i am a secretary of a company. my director tells me divident vouchers are companies accounts. but i have learned they are payments made to shareholders, after i signed them. he basically lied to me, i have not received any money and have not declared them on my my tax return because i didnt know what they were so what can i do about this please help

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By Tax Dragon
06th Jan 2020 06:56

Is he your husband?

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By paul.benny
06th Jan 2020 07:30

A dividend voucher is a statement of dividends paid to a shareholder - a bit like a receipt when you buy something. I don't think they're mandatory but they can be a convenient record for both company and shareholder.

You mention submitting a tax return with the dividends missing. If this is for 2018/19, the due date isn't until the end of this month, so you can still correct it. If it's for an earlier year, you can still correct it but you will have penalties. You should talk to whoever prepared the return for you.

It sounds like there is a bit more going on here than the question suggests - you have 50% shareholding and are company secretary but are uninformed about some fairly basic things. This could be all above board or you could be into something bad without your knowledge

Immediate advice is not to sign anything more without reading it and making sure you understand. If you can, discuss your concerns with the director.

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RLI
By lionofludesch
06th Jan 2020 09:11

Somebody's having a joke.

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Replying to lionofludesch:
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By Tax Dragon
06th Jan 2020 10:09

Nobody's laughing.

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Replying to Tax Dragon:
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By Accountant A
06th Jan 2020 11:31

Quote:

Nobody's laughing.

Sift are. That's another new user they can report to their advertisers who are paying in the misguided belief that it's a site for accountants.

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Replying to Accountant A:
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By Tax Dragon
06th Jan 2020 11:37

I think that news is out there - unless only accountants need boiler cover, holidays abroad, mouthwash and so on.

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Replying to Tax Dragon:
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By Tax Dragon
06th Jan 2020 11:40

Though that could just be me... I've just realised those adverts seem to be tailored to dragons...

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Replying to Tax Dragon:
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By Accountant A
06th Jan 2020 13:45

Quote:

I think that news is out there - unless only accountants need boiler cover, holidays abroad, mouthwash and so on.

I must have an embarrassing browsing history. Most of the ads I see on here are for accounting related products and services.

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Replying to Accountant A:
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By Tax Dragon
06th Jan 2020 13:49

Redacted - I just saw your "I"... nice joke :-)

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By SXGuy
06th Jan 2020 10:01

When did you sign the voucher? if after April 19, then they wouldn't be shown on your tax return until after next April anyway.

Also, the board may have declared dividends but not paid them yet, perfectly legal, in which case the voucher may be drawn up but nothing actually paid, the devil is in the detail of the minutes which should have been written.

I would hazard a guess and say your director is probably just as clueless as you are when it comes to these things, and has probably been instructed by his accountant to formalise the dividends by issuing vouchers.

I think what you need to do is ask the director when he/she expects to pay you a dividend since you are a 50% shareholder, if you don't like the answer, then you should seek legal advice.

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paddle steamer
By DJKL
06th Jan 2020 10:40

Modest or shy dividend vouchers?

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Replying to DJKL:
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By Tax Dragon
06th Jan 2020 11:22

Get this man on I'm Sorry I haven't A Clue!

Excellent Uxbridge definition.

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Replying to DJKL:
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By JDBENJAMIN
06th Jan 2020 11:30

Money-off coupons for false teeth?

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By JDBENJAMIN
06th Jan 2020 11:26

As you are the Secretary, you should put this question to your company's accountant. It is clear that you know nothing about this subject, so we cannot instruct you here with a few lines.

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RLI
By lionofludesch
06th Jan 2020 11:44

There's a recent case on this, actually.

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Replying to lionofludesch:
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By Tax Dragon
07th Jan 2020 10:14

I missed it. Was it helpful?

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Replying to Tax Dragon:
RLI
By lionofludesch
07th Jan 2020 10:22

I think so.

If I remember rightly, the wife was ruled not taxable on money she hadn't received.

Can't remember the name, though.

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Replying to lionofludesch:
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By Tax Dragon
07th Jan 2020 10:27

Ahhhh… that's ringing bells.

But wasn't it rental property?

And wife wasn't (equivalent of) CoSec.

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Replying to Tax Dragon:
RLI
By lionofludesch
07th Jan 2020 10:34

Can't remember.......

It's annoying me now.

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Replying to lionofludesch:
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By CTA
07th Jan 2020 10:48

Rebecca Louise Vowles v HMRC [2017] TC06123

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Replying to CTA:
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By Tax Dragon
07th Jan 2020 11:06

You kind of hope cases like that are never helpful, because they're horrific.

But there's too much horror about - I was thinking of Akan [2018] TC 06498, which also isn't a nice read.

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Replying to Tax Dragon:
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By CTA
07th Jan 2020 11:30

I couldn't agree more, TD.

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By Paul D Utherone
06th Jan 2020 13:49

Copied for the inevitable deletion

"i am a secretary of a company. my director tells me divident vouchers are companies accounts. but i have learned they are payments made to shareholders, after i signed them. he basically lied to me, i have not received any money and have not declared them on my my tax return because i didnt know what they were so what can i do about this please help"

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By sculptureofman
06th Jan 2020 13:56

Is it too early to be considering post of the year?

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By penelope pitstop
06th Jan 2020 18:45

Lesson #1 at Inland Revenue Training decades ago:

"What is a dividend tax voucher"

Shame you were not there. You would have learned lots.

I think lesson #2 was, "What is a personal tax allowance".

Think you need to get back to basics.

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By JCresswellTax
07th Jan 2020 09:20

And I thought it was called a 'dividend'. [***] have I been advising clients wrongly all this time!?!

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Replying to JCresswellTax:
Psycho
By Wilson Philips
07th Jan 2020 09:40

Do you not mean "cliends"?

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Replying to Wilson Philips:
By JCresswellTax
07th Jan 2020 09:50

Brilliant! :)

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Replying to JCresswellTax:
Psycho
By Wilson Philips
07th Jan 2020 10:02

Or brilliand?

This could run for some time ...

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Replying to Wilson Philips:
ALISK
By atleastisoundknowledgable...
07th Jan 2020 17:30

Quote:

Or brilliand?

This could run for some time ...

‘Coult run’?

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RLI
By lionofludesch
07th Jan 2020 10:13

Amongst all the levity, does no-one else remember this case ?

Wife claimed her husband had declared dividends to her but she never received any actual money. I seem to remember that the husband was a bit domineering.

Quite a recent case but I can't bring the name to mind.

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Replying to lionofludesch:
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By Tax Dragon
07th Jan 2020 10:43

Just noticed this post :-)

Morphic resonance....

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Replying to lionofludesch:
Psycho
By Wilson Philips
07th Jan 2020 10:58

Vowles

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Replying to Wilson Philips:
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By whitevanman
07th Jan 2020 15:00

Not vowels(or have we finished with spellings)?

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Replying to whitevanman:
Psycho
By Wilson Philips
07th Jan 2020 17:08

Vowles it is

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Replying to lionofludesch:
ALISK
By atleastisoundknowledgable...
07th Jan 2020 17:34

If it’s the (violent) case I’m thinking of between a divorced couple, I believe that the judge was chaffed with his decision thinking he’d done the right thing tax wise.

The wife had literally no involvement with the company though, she’d never seen any money or even her SATR, so significantly different than here.

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Replying to atleastisoundknowledgable...:
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By Tax Dragon
07th Jan 2020 17:44

Three things...

1. We don't know it's wife and husband, that was just my speculation in the opening reply. (The fact that that reply has been thanked *might* indicate it was a good guess.)

2. I only scanned the case very quickly, but I think there was a finding that the wife (was she a wife? of the abuser I mean - she was someone else's wife at the start of the story) had signed some of the documents [presumably under duress].

3. (Teasingly,) I'm embarrassed that you knew this case and I didn't. Head hung in shame.

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Replying to atleastisoundknowledgable...:
RLI
By lionofludesch
07th Jan 2020 17:57

Quote:

If it’s the (violent) case I’m thinking of between a divorced couple, I believe that the judge was chaffed with his decision thinking he’d done the right thing tax wise.

Eh ? Chaffed ? Or chuffed ?

Quote:

The wife had literally no involvement with the company though, she’d never seen any money or even her SATR, so significantly different than here.

Is it ? It looks very similar to me. Just because she's company secretary doesn't mean she had a great deal of involvement. And the stuff she signed could have been stuck under her nose with the instruction "sign here". Which, to be honest, is what a lot of clients do.

The fact is - we don't know.

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By 356B
07th Jan 2020 12:24
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