There are a number of obligations that business owners should be aware, that involve them informing HMRC of changes to their business circumstances. In some cases, failure to comply may result in fines.
We have paraphrased some of occasions when you will need to advise HMRC:
- You must tell HMRC if you decide to change the legal structure of your business, for example if you become a limited company or set up a partnership.
- you’ll need to tell HMRC if you stop being self-employed or close a limited company. To close a partnership, the nominated partner needs to report this on the final partnership tax return.
- You don’t need to tell HMRC a partner is joining or leaving unless the partnership is VAT-registered. If your partnership is VAT-registered, you must tell HMRC when a partner joins or leaves within 30 days – you can be fined if you don’t.
If a partner dies or becomes bankrupt you must:
- If there are 2 partners, the partnership will be automatically dissolved. The remaining partner must re-register for Self-Assessment as a sole trader.
- If there are more than 2 partners, the partnership will be dissolved unless the partnership has agreed otherwise.
- If the nominated partner dies, the partnership must nominate another partner and tell HMRC as soon as possible. If they don’t, HMRC will nominate one and write to the partnership. That partner must then complete any outstanding partnership tax returns.
Additionally, if you start to employ staff you must register as an employer with HMRC.
VAT imposes a number of obligations. You will need to advise HMRC of changes to your turnover, businesses activity or if you become a member of a VAT group, and in most cases, you must tell them, within 30 days of the change.
Readers who are clients can be reassured that will do this for them (as long as we are given the facts). If you are concerned that you may have changes to disclose, please call and we will deal with this for you.
