What Is A Limited Company?
A limited company is an organisation whose owners are legally responsible only for the capital they invest. The general idea behind a limited company is to place a limit on the liability of the company’s shareholders. This means that if a business goes into administration, the shareholders will only be liable for the amount of money they initially invested.
The benefits of starting a limited company compared with sole trading include:
Protection through limited liability
- Limited company holders are more insulated than sole traders from any particularly disastrous failures
- The liability held by the shareholders of a limited company will be capped at the amount initially paid into shares plus any unsecured loans to the company
- The directors of the company will not be held entirely responsible for financial losses, except under exceptional circumstances such as fraud
Tax and National Insurance efficiency
- If you pay yourself a small salary, as the director, and most of your supplementary income is in the form of dividends, you won’t have to pay employer or employee NI Contributions.
- Dividends are taxed less than salary, and are not subject to National Insurance. However, if you are a sole trader, you will have to pay National Insurance on your whole income.
Improved credibility
- People may view you as more professional if you are a limited company
- Some clients will only work with limited companies and will not deal with unincorporated businesses
- Being a limited company could break your glass ceiling
Easier to finance
- Because a limited company acts as a separate legal entity, it can be easier to finance
- You can raise capital through selling shares and attracting investors: sole traders will have to raise capital on their own.
- Easier sale of the business – if you are fortunate enough to have built up a business that can be sold, a limited company structure is usually far better.
- Your business and personal arrangements, assets and liabilities are clearly segregated, removing any doubt over what the business consists of
- After the sale of the business you will normally not be responsible for the business in any way; for example any guarantees you provided to customers will remain the responsibility of the company and its new owner
- Your suppliers and customers will continue to deal with the company, not you personally, so contracts will not need to be renewed (“novated”)
- Customers are more likely to remain loyal to the business as they experience little or no disruption by the change in ownership
What Services Can Aston Black Offer?
Aston Black will guide limited company owners through the process of running the accounts and taxation for their business. We will help you stay on top of your accounts, while allowing you to focus on ensuring that your business is the most successful it can possibly be.
The services we offer are as follows:
Professional accounting
- Accounting and tax are far more complex for a company than they are for sole traders.
- As highly experienced and qualified accountants, we will take the burden of complying with HMRC’s ever-changing rules from you
- We not only process your returns figures, but also advise on ways of saving tax and other costs. We will ensure all legal requirements are met on time, avoiding fines.
- We offer consistent advice throughout the year, and will give you support when dealing with the worry of HMRC.
Company Accounts and Corporation tax returns
- You will have two separate deadlines as a company
- One for filing accounts at Companies House and paying corporation tax, 9 months after the end of the tax year.
- The other for filing your corporation tax return at HMRC, 12 months after the end of the tax year.
- Accounts sent to Companies House are available for inspection by the general public, but do not require the full detail that HMRC does.
- We can advise on how best to format each document.
Confirmation Statement
- Assistance with submitting your required confirmation statement (CS01) to Companies House.
Company formations and registered offices
- Company formation service allowing your company to begin trading as soon as 24 hours later
- We can offer our address as the registered office, if necessary
Bookkeeping
- Help offered with bookkeeping, by setting up and streamlining business processes
- Initial data review to ensure all is correct, and advice offered on any changes
- We also offer a full bookkeeping service, maintaining your records successfully and painlessly
Tax management
- We do not condone or support tax avoidance, but we do offer above board tax management
- Help offered with identifying a legal and legitimate approach to saving money on tax
VAT
- VAT compliance
- VAT registration submissions
- We can advise on MTD (Making Tax Digital) for VAT or provide a fully MTD compliant bookkeeping service
- Advise on the best VAT scheme for your business
- Create and submit VAT returns for your business
- Set up VAT processes for clients managing their own books
Payroll and Construction Industry Scheme
- We provide a comprehensive service to clients
- This includes compliance with auto-enrolment pensions
Wherever you are in your career, whether you are considering starting a limited company or you are already running an established business, but could use a little more help, we will be more than happy to advise and assist. You can request a free call back by filling out the form above.