Paying corporation tax!
Discussion
Help needed!
Long story short, I could not pay my Corporation Tax yesterday as I do not have the correct 17 digit HMRC code. This is due to having a new accountant (who, to be frank, be soon become another ex-accountant) and taking my eye off the ball.
We are away from home, and will be out of the country of a week skiing from Saturday, so I have a very small window of opportunity to make the payment.
The help?
Is there a quick/easy way to dump some money with HMRC and worry about ensuring it gets to the right account when I get home?
My accountant gave me what is supposedly a default HMRC bank account, but when we tried to pay into it via telephone banking, the bank operative could not process the payment as their system was insisting on a code of a certain format.
I know that long term I need an authorisation code (which is apparently on the way) but short term I just need to make a payment so I can go skiing with a clear mind, and not worry about a bloody penalty fine for late payment.
Any guidance gratefully received. I had a sleepless night last night, and can see this screwing with my birthday plans for tomorrow.
Long story short, I could not pay my Corporation Tax yesterday as I do not have the correct 17 digit HMRC code. This is due to having a new accountant (who, to be frank, be soon become another ex-accountant) and taking my eye off the ball.
We are away from home, and will be out of the country of a week skiing from Saturday, so I have a very small window of opportunity to make the payment.
The help?
Is there a quick/easy way to dump some money with HMRC and worry about ensuring it gets to the right account when I get home?
My accountant gave me what is supposedly a default HMRC bank account, but when we tried to pay into it via telephone banking, the bank operative could not process the payment as their system was insisting on a code of a certain format.
I know that long term I need an authorisation code (which is apparently on the way) but short term I just need to make a payment so I can go skiing with a clear mind, and not worry about a bloody penalty fine for late payment.
Any guidance gratefully received. I had a sleepless night last night, and can see this screwing with my birthday plans for tomorrow.
If you pay late you will be charged interest - but you won't be charged any sort of penalty.
How long are you away for?
The interest may not amount to an awful lot - depending on the amount of tax is due and how long after the official payment date you actually make the payment.
Does your accountant have a copy Corporation tax payslip. As the Corporation Tax agent, most accountants will receive copies of Corporation Tax payment requests from HMRC - usually with a payslip attached. The payslip will contain all the references you needed to ensure that the Corporation Tax payment goes to the correct account at HMRC. If you can contact the accountant, he/she should be able to give you all the necessary references.
I would NOT recommend making a payment without using all the correct references. If you do, HMRC will take your money but they won't credit the amount you have paid against your Corporation Tax account - so they will continue to chase you for the money.
How long are you away for?
The interest may not amount to an awful lot - depending on the amount of tax is due and how long after the official payment date you actually make the payment.
Does your accountant have a copy Corporation tax payslip. As the Corporation Tax agent, most accountants will receive copies of Corporation Tax payment requests from HMRC - usually with a payslip attached. The payslip will contain all the references you needed to ensure that the Corporation Tax payment goes to the correct account at HMRC. If you can contact the accountant, he/she should be able to give you all the necessary references.
I would NOT recommend making a payment without using all the correct references. If you do, HMRC will take your money but they won't credit the amount you have paid against your Corporation Tax account - so they will continue to chase you for the money.
Thanks Guys. My crap accountant doesn't have a copy of MY payslip as the previous accountant (who had gone off the rails and is apparently hitting the bottle and the gaming tables) has not passed on the details.
The new one applied for the authorisation code late, so everything is still going to the old one. I still haven't managed to change the bloody registered address either! Lots of learning points from this situation.
I'll try to call HMRC tomorrow, before we go away (just one week) and if nothing positive can happen I'll leave payment until I return on the 12th.
And also I'll be investigating ANOTHER new accountant.
The new one applied for the authorisation code late, so everything is still going to the old one. I still haven't managed to change the bloody registered address either! Lots of learning points from this situation.
I'll try to call HMRC tomorrow, before we go away (just one week) and if nothing positive can happen I'll leave payment until I return on the 12th.
And also I'll be investigating ANOTHER new accountant.
Bear in mind that the interest is allowable as an expense too so for next year your interest charge can come off you taxed profits.
To be fair to your accountant it sounds as if they were relying on others and this is why no accountant likes clients leaving things down to the wire. You could have paid it earlier!
To be fair to your accountant it sounds as if they were relying on others and this is why no accountant likes clients leaving things down to the wire. You could have paid it earlier!
confused_buyer said:
To be fair to your accountant it sounds as if they were relying on others and this is why no accountant likes clients leaving things down to the wire. You could have paid it earlier!
I would have. She had the stuff for nearly four weeks, and emailed me the accounts at midday on New Years Eve, knowing that I was away with friends!This is the busiest time of the year for accountants. Quite a few limited companies have 31 March year ends (it ties in with the official Corporation Tax year). This means that these companies will have 31 December Corporation Tax payment dates. Giving your accountant the records for a 31 March year end in November is not very helpful to the accountant, especially when there may be other clients doing much the same.
In addition to this, 31 January is the filing deadline date for personal Self Assessment tax return - so there will always be a large inrush of tax return work starting in November.
If you are in a position to give your company accounts to your accountant much earlier in the year, you would be doing yourself and her a big favour.
In addition to this, 31 January is the filing deadline date for personal Self Assessment tax return - so there will always be a large inrush of tax return work starting in November.
If you are in a position to give your company accounts to your accountant much earlier in the year, you would be doing yourself and her a big favour.
Eric Mc said:
This is the busiest time of the year for accountants. Quite a few limited companies have 31 March year ends (it ties in with the official Corporation Tax year). This means that these companies will have 31 December Corporation Tax payment dates. Giving your accountant the records for a 31 March year end in November is not very helpful to the accountant, especially when there may be other clients doing much the same.
In addition to this, 31 January is the filing deadline date for personal Self Assessment tax return - so there will always be a large inrush of tax return work starting in November.
If you are in a position to give your company accounts to your accountant much earlier in the year, you would be doing yourself and her a big favour.
I'm going to change the accounting period too.In addition to this, 31 January is the filing deadline date for personal Self Assessment tax return - so there will always be a large inrush of tax return work starting in November.
If you are in a position to give your company accounts to your accountant much earlier in the year, you would be doing yourself and her a big favour.
T40ORA said:
I'm going to change the accounting period too.
I wouldn't. Having your year end tie in with the Corporation Tax (CT) year is quite a good thing to do. It means that only one set of CT rules applies to your accounts. If you have a year end with a different month to 31 March, it often means that more than one set of CT rules apply as CT rule changes usually take effect on the first day of the new CT year i.e. 1 April.
Eric Mc said:
I wouldn't. Having your year end tie in with the Corporation Tax (CT) year is quite a good thing to do. It means that only one set of CT rules applies to your accounts.
If you have a year end with a different month to 31 March, it often means that more than one set of CT rules apply as CT rule changes usually take effect on the first day of the new CT year i.e. 1 April.
OK. Good advice.If you have a year end with a different month to 31 March, it often means that more than one set of CT rules apply as CT rule changes usually take effect on the first day of the new CT year i.e. 1 April.
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