As a UK Limited Company there are a number of filings and processes that you will have to ensure are completed correctly and in a timely manner. This article outlines some of the things you will need to consider for your Annual accounts, VAT registration and PAYE schemes.

Companies House Annual Return

The filing of the annual return is the responsibility of the company secretary, or failing that the Directors.

Annual Accounts

By law your company will also be required to file annual accounts with Companies House each year. Accounts for Limited Companies are much more complex than for a sole trader or partnership and so the service of an accountant is usually always required. Late or incorrect filing can lead to penalties or fines.

VAT Registration

You need to register for VAT if your taxable supplies value exceeds £70,000 within the last twelve months or when there are reasonable grounds to expect the value of taxable supplies to exceed £70,000 within the next 30 days. You need to register for VAT in a timely manner otherwise you may be charged a fine penalty.

You should seek the advice of an accountant if you have doubts about whether or not you should register for VAT voluntarily as there may be benefits of doing this for some companies.

PAYE Registration

Registering as an employer is also something you will need to do if you are planning to employ and pay a salary to an employee or a Director. This is the method by which tax is witheld in the UK from an employee’s earnings, which is then paid to the tax authorities (HMRC). Again you are best advised to speak to a tax adviser or accountant in relation to this issue.

Contact our accounts team on 02075805252 or via our contact form and they will take you through our PAYE and VAT registration package deals.

The main rate of corporation tax will be cut from 28% to 24% over the next four years, the Chancellor, George Osborne, has announced.

Corporation tax will be cut from 28% to 27% next year, and by 1% annually for the following three years.

The rate for small companies will also be cut from 21% to 20%.

companyes welcomed the lowering of these tax rates but expressed concern over other measures, including the rise in the main rate of VAT to 20%.

The rise in VAT is due to start from 4 January 2011.

Reform of the corporate tax regime "will help rebalance the economy away from household debt and government consumption", Mr Osborne said.

He also revealed plans to reduce the Annual Investment Allowance from £100,000 to £25,000 from April 2012.

This would still allow more than 95% of companyes to have all their annual investment covered by the allowance, the government believes.

The threshold at which employers start to pay National Insurance will rise by £21 a week above indexation from April, the chancellor said.

"Even more importantly, the chancellor's message that Britain is 'open for company' will be welcomed by companies the length and breadth of the country - and across the globe."

But the manufacturers' organisation, the EEF, said the chancellor had only done "part of the job" of rebalancing the economy.

"While companyes will welcome long-term reform and predictability of corporation tax... predictability has come at the cost of competitiveness," said EEF chief executive Terry Scuoler.

"[Manufacturers] will now be left wondering where the necessary growth and investment will come from, given the cuts to investment allowances and capital budgets."

The Federation of Small companyes welcomed the reduction in the small company rate but said the rise in VAT would hurt small companyes in the High Street.

However, it added that "common sense has prevailed with the increase coming into play on 4 January 2011 and not on New Year's Day". Corporation tax is a manageable issue for any company. knowing how to deal with it is the key. Use a specialist like Wimpole house company services to ensure you are keeping within guidelines.

Those who are on PAYE and anyone with a vat registration are now looking to a new concession that will mean many people facing the highest demands for back tax will not face interest payments.

Those given time to pay more than £2,000 in underpaid tax will now have interest waived - in line with those with smaller demands, MPs were told.

The Permanent Secretary for Tax, Dave Hartnett, told the Treasury Committee that the authorities "could have done better" to prepare people for bills.

More than two million people underpaid income tax in the past two tax years.

This was the result of errors in their Pay As You Earn (PAYE) tax code.

About 900,000 taxpayers will not have to pay anything after the government raised the write-off threshold from £50 to £300, a concession costing the Treasury £160m.

This left 1.4 million people owing about £2bn, or £1,428 each on average. PAYE registered employees are effected by this, but this in turn effects the directors of the company (if they have completed the tax registration process).

A group of MP's met to discuss the implications of this on the tax payer, paye employees and vat registered companies. Dave Hartnett was appearing before the MPs on the Treasury Committee, together with Dame Lesley Strathie, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) chief executive, and Bernadette Kenny, director general of personal tax.

In a significant change in policy announced at the committee, Dame Lesley said that people who owed more than £2,000 in tax from the PAYE scheme, in the latest round would not have to pay interest if the tax authority gave them extra time to pay.

Before the concession, PAYE schemes and companies who had completed the vat registration process were leaving people three months to pay up after which point they would be charged interest on the money owed. VAT registered company employees will therefore benefit from this if they are unable to pay their outstanding tax ontime.

"Where people need time to pay, they will not be charged interest," she said.

Ministers had asked for the change, and there is currently no estimate of the cost of the concession to the Treasury.

Mr Hartnett explained that the concession was designed to give the same treatment to all taxpayers, whatever they owed. However people must tell their tax office that they need time to pay - and get a repayment plan - in order for the concession to apply.

Dame Lesley - who noted that the PAYE system broadly worked for more than 80% of PAYE taxpayers - said that she had "empathy" for those facing underpayments and wished to make it as easy as possible for them to pay.

She acknowledged that the backlog of unresolved income taxes on thos employed by a company with VAT registration, could mean that more people would receive letters about overpayment or underpayment of tax. A recent Audit Commission report said that there were 18.2 million unresolved income tax cases on HMRC's books, but not all of these would lead to a change in tax calculations.

Mr Hartnett added that HMRC needed to improve communications with its customers. PAYE and VAT registration for companies are ever changing and need to be monitored to make sure the employee and employer can operate within guidelines.