Change of the accounting company of LTD during the tax year

A limited company is one of the most popular forms of running own business by Poles abroad – incl. in the UK. Like any company, a British LTD company needs meticulous bookkeeping.

Relationships with an accounting agent are often many years of cooperation, but it may happen that, for various reasons, we want to change the company that conducts the accounting of our company. In this text you will learn what this change entails and how to safely carry out the process.

The LTD company, like any other company operating in Great Britain, requires the employment of a competent accountant, preferably with knowledge of human resources. Modern business models allow you to hire an external company for this purpose, which usually specializes in comprehensive accounting and HR services. Accounting outsourcing may sometimes involve the need to change the company that provides the service of settlements with offices or tax consultancy. Of course, there can be many reasons, and in this text you will learn what to do to be sure that you have full control over your company.

Access codes and key company information

The overriding principle that every director of a limited company should apply is to have all access data to it, because when changing the accounting company, our new agent will surely ask for them. Without the following information, it is not possible to transfer your accounting to a new company.

This information is needed by the new accounting firm:

login and password for the government agency HMRC . It is this office that each company, company or sole proprietorship contacts with in tax matters. However, this is not all the access data that we should have.
You also need to have access to the British company registration office, i.e. Companies House .
In addition, each ltd owner should have Unique Taxpayer Reference number – UTR for short . It is an automatically assigned number upon registration of LTD by HMRC. It is required for every contact with this office. What if the UTR is lost? The UTR number is on every document sent from HMRC, as well as on the virtual account at HMRC.
If the company was registered as an employer, then under British law it must settle annual accounts with employees using a payroll system. In Great Britain, the system is called PAYE (pay as you earn) and is used by HMRC to collect income tax and insurance premium from an employee’s salary. If we change the company keeping the accounting in the company, and it has staff, then we must be sure about the PAYE number .
If the limited company is a VAT payer, then you must also have its number (VAT ID) . A copy of the VAT Certificate may also be useful. The new accounting firm will also need data from field 5 from the VAT statement . Data appear in it automatically after appropriate filling in boxes 3 and 4.
Moreover, it is necessary to know the exact date of registration of the company and the last tax declaration .

Also read: Taxation of LTD director

Can the accounting firm be changed during the fiscal year?

This is a question we meet quite often at Admiral Tax. You do not need to wait until the end of the accounting year to change the accounting company, as it may seem to entrepreneurs who have tried to make a similar change in the conditions of a Polish limited liability company. or business activity on a natural person. It is true that there is no regulation that would prohibit this both in Poland and in Great Britain, but we should look for a Polish accounting company that will take responsibility for the previous provider of accounting services by the Polish Tax Office and Social Insurance Institution.

Directors of companies who decide to change their accounting firm during the fiscal year, calculated individually for each company, often contact Admiral Tax. In such a situation, however, one should take into account that the fees that the company incurred for the provision of accounting services by the predecessor may be lost if we paid for the year in advance. It is most economical to change your accountant at the end of the accounting year and the start of a new one. However, if the loss of funds without receiving the benefit is not of great importance, then, for example, Admiral Tax has no objections to taking over the accounting at any time.

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