What is the absolute cheapest/simplest you can run a Ltd?

[d000hg]

If you have a company which is not really doing anything - no salaries, no income, just a couple of nominal expenses - does it still have to do annual CT filings and so on? Or can such a company be run for £0 with practically zero paperwork, as some sort of placeholder?

I know you can buy off-the-shelf companies but they are 'mothballed' in some sense I believe where as I am talking about an operational company which just isn't doing anything.

Mainly just curious, it's not some dodgy wheeze.

[The Spartan]

If you have a company which is not really doing anything - no salaries, no income, just a couple of nominal expenses - does it still have to do annual CT filings and so on? Or can such a company be run for £0 with practically zero paperwork, as some sort of placeholder?

I know you can buy off-the-shelf companies but they are 'mothballed' in some sense I believe where as I am talking about an operational company which just isn't doing anything.

Mainly just curious, it's not some dodgy wheeze.

As far as I know you'd still have to file an Annual return every year at Companies House it £15 I think online use Webfiling, as well as Dormant Company Accounts but there is a form on their website that you can download and it's pretty easy to fill in and self explanatory.

Not sure about the HMRC bits though.

[expat]

AIUI if a company has any transactions at all, it is not dormant. And ISTR that the Dormant Accounts filing is for a company that has never had any transactions. Note: this includes the filing fee, so you would have to pay it personally in order fro the company to remain dormant.

In any case the 2 statements here are self-contradictory:

a company which is not really doing anything - no salaries, no income, just a couple of nominal expenses

The company is either doing something or nothing. Sorry to be pedantic.

[d000hg]

The company is either doing something or nothing. Sorry to be pedantic.

That's part of what I wondered - if below a certain minimal level you can be exempt, or if you run at a loss, etc - analogous to how we file short accounts as small companies I wondered if there was an even shorter form.

If you have a company director but no salaries are paid, does that mean RTI and P11d etc are not an issue... what would have to be filed? Only the CT600 and annual payment to CH? CT600 would seemingly be trivial to complete.

[Alan @ BroomeAffinity]

If the company is truly dormant, as said above has never had any transactions, then DCA and AR to Companies House is all you need to sorry about. Regarding Corp Tax, when a company is incorp'd, HMRC automatically send a CT41G form to RO asking for information about the company. There is an option to say that the company wont be trading by filing another form (can't remember number, sorry) and if you send that back then you wont need to file CT returns. Once the company starts trading you just need to write to HMRC telling them so.

Regarding RTI/PAYE etc, if there is no salary, then the company needn't be registered for PAYE and therefore there are no filing requirements.

[Louisa@InTouch]

If you still have transactions (excluding the annual return fee to Companies House), you will be required to submit a set of accounts both to Companies House and HMRC. However they will still need to be a full set of accounts, rather than completing the dormant accounts (AA02 - DCA).

When you file a set of accounts with HMRC, this will need to be in iXBRL format but you can do this through the 'joint filing' service that is detailed on Companies House.

You will also be required to submit the annual return to Companies House each year, detailing the officers and shareholders in the company, which costs £13 per annum.

If you still have a PAYE scheme open for the company, even though it is dormant, you will still be required to file RTI submissions (EPS), end of year submissions and the P11D. But if the P11D is NIL, this can be done online with HMRC. However if you are no longer paying any salaries, you can close the scheme which will stop these requirements.

[d000hg]

If you still have transactions (excluding the annual return fee to Companies House), you will be required to submit a set of accounts both to Companies House and HMRC. However they will still need to be a full set of accounts, rather than completing the dormant accounts (AA02 - DCA).

When you file a set of accounts with HMRC, this will need to be in iXBRL format but you can do this through the 'joint filing' service that is detailed on Companies House.

You will also be required to submit the annual return to Companies House each year, detailing the officers and shareholders in the company, which costs £13 per annum.

If you still have a PAYE scheme open for the company, even though it is dormant, you will still be required to file RTI submissions (EPS), end of year submissions and the P11D. But if the P11D is NIL, this can be done online with HMRC. However if you are no longer paying any salaries, you can close the scheme which will stop these requirements.

Is that accountant-speak for "it's a piece of p*** a monkey couldn't mess up?"

[Maslins]

That's part of what I wondered - if below a certain minimal level you can be exempt, or if you run at a loss, etc - analogous to how we file short accounts as small companies I wondered if there was an even shorter form.

If there zero transactions in the whole year, you'd just need:
- annual return to Companies House (& £13 fee),
- dormant accounts to Companies House,
- you can tell HMRC the company's dormant, meaning no CT returns are required.
If the company had been registered for PAYE and/or VAT, you'd likely want to de-register for those, which would then mean no ongoing submissions.

As others have stated, the above only applies with no transactions. A lot of contractors seem to get a bit grumpy that if they have a few months out they still have to do stuff and pay accountancy fees. Doing a set of accounts/CT return with (say) £10k turnover from 1 month is negligibly less effort than (say) £120k turnover from 12 months.

Dormant is only a useful state if you're talking in terms of years.

[xoggoth]

You certainly do not have to do PAYE if there are no director salaries even though the HMRC website says you do. If registered (some company set ups seem to do that for you) just ring them up, explain the situation and they will probably take you off.