COM40030 - Case records: new company records: information a company must provide to HM Revenue and Customs
This subject is presented as follows.
Background
Companies newly coming within the charge to CT
S55 Satisfied signal in COTAX
Companies coming back into the charge to CT
Background
Section 55 Finance Act 2004 requires a company to notify HMRC of:
- the beginning of its first accounting period
- the beginning of any subsequent accounting period that does not immediately follow the end of a previous accounting period. Typically, this is when a company comes back into charge after a period of dormancy.
The company must give us that information, together with other information specified in S55 and The Corporation Tax (Notice of Coming within Charge - Information) Regulations 2004 (SI2004 No 2502), not later than three months after the AP began.
That information includes:
- the company’s name and registration number
- the address of its principal place of business
- the date to which the company intends to prepare accounts
- if the company has taken over another business, the name and address of that former business and the name and address of the person from whom the business was acquired
- the name and address of its parent company if it is part of a group.
S55 applies to companies that are formally incorporated under the Companies Acts but not to clubs, societies and unincorporated associations.
Companies newly coming within the charge to CT
When a company registers at Companies House, they have the opportunity to supply the required information if it is available. However, many companies do not start to trade immediately and do not have all the necessary information at the time of registration.
COTAX issues a CT41G to newly incorporated companies when they are set up on COTAX. That form gives the company their UTR and explains that, if they were unable to supply the information needed to satisfy S55 at the time of registration, the easiest way to supply it is by using the Online Tax Registration Service (OTRS), although we do accept the information in a letter.
You can see the CT41G issued date in function VTPR.
Because the CT41G refers to S55 FTA 2004 obligations that do not relate to unincorporated companies, you must not request the issue of a CT41G from COTAX when setting up a record for unincorporated associations such as clubs, associations or property management companies. Instead, where you require additional information, you should manually issue a CT41G (Clubs).
S55 Satisfied signal in COTAX
Under S55 FA 2004, companies could originally be charged a penalty if they failed to comply. A ‘S55 Satisfied’ signal was therefore introduced in COTAX to help you identify a company that had not met its S55 obligations.
When you receive the information, either from Companies House, by OTRC or by post, you should update the record with the details supplied and then set the signal to ‘Y’ to prevent COTAX displaying unnecessary advisory messages. Even if you think the information is incomplete, do not contact the company further.
Companies coming back into the charge to CT
If you know that a currently dormant company intends to come back into the charge to CT, function MAPD (Maintain AP Dates) lets you create a dormancy end date in the future, as long as it is followed by a live AP. Where MAPD gives you the option to inhibit the issue of form CT204, you should do so. It is not good customer service to issue the form when the company has already advised us that the dormancy is ending.