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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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.
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.
I think that news is out there - unless only accountants need boiler cover, holidays abroad, mouthwash and so on.
Though that could just be me... I've just realised those adverts seem to be tailored to dragons...
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.
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.
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.
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.
Ahhhh… that's ringing bells.
But wasn't it rental property?
And wife wasn't (equivalent of) CoSec.
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.
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"
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.
And I thought it was called a 'dividend'. [***] have I been advising clients wrongly all this time!?!
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.
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.
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.
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 ?
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.
A little light reading for the OP.
https://www.accountingweb.co.uk/community/industry-insights/tax-insider-...