SAOG15350 - Senior Accounting Officer must provide a certificate to HMRC: specimen unqualified combined SAO certificate and company notification

The Senior Accounting Officer (SAO) will provide an unqualified certificate where they are certifying that the company had appropriate tax accounting arrangements throughout the financial year. In some cases, a company’s SAO is also responsible for providing the company’s notification of the identity of each person who acted as its SAO in a financial year. Where you can verify the identity of the SAO, see SAOG15600, you may accept a combined SAO certificate and company notification that provides all information required by paragraphs 2, see SAOG13200, and paragraph 3 Schedule 46 FA09, see SAOG15200.

An unqualified certificate should not contain any statements that may imply qualifications, see SAOG15200.

A suggested format for a combined SAO certificate and company notification is:

In accordance with Paragraph 2 Schedule 46 Finance Act 2009 I……………………………………………………… as Senior Accounting Officer of the qualifying company (or companies) listed below, hereby certify that, throughout the company’s (or companies’) financial year ended …………………………… the company (or companies) had appropriate tax accounting arrangements.

Name of Qualifying Company	UTR

Where there have been changes in the SAO during the year:

In accordance with Paragraph 3 Schedule 46 Finance Act 2009 I am also advising that the following person(s) acted as Senior Accounting Officer for the company (or companies) listed above during the financial year ended ……………………….

Name	Date appointed SAO	Date ceased as SAO	Contact Information*

Where there have been no changes in the SAO during the year:

In accordance with Paragraph 3 Schedule 46 Finance Act 2009 I................................. am also advising that I was the Senior Accounting Officer for the company (or companies) listed above, throughout the entire financial year ended.............

The certificate must be signed and dated by the SAO but see SAOG15600 if the SAO files the combined document electronically.

See SAOG15200 for guidance on what an SAO should do in respect of a period within a financial year before they became the SAO, and what they should take into account when considering their certificate for that financial year.

If an SAO is providing a certificate for more than one company they may if they wish provide one or more combined certificates – see SAOG15500.