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Do Accounting Records need to be kept at the Registered Office?

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    Do Accounting Records need to be kept at the Registered Office?

    I'm a bit confused about HMRC's guidance on keeping company and accounting records: Running a limited company: Company and accounting records - GOV.UK

    "Records about the company" and the PSC register must be kept at the registered office address or a SAIL address, as they need to be made available for public inspection.
    But what about accounting records? Do they need to be kept at the registered office as well, and made available for public inspection?

    I ask because I am using one of these services which lets you use an address other than your own for the registered office address, and they allow you to keep the PSC register and company records there. However, they do not offer to keep accounting records for your company as well.

    Thanks.

    #2
    Your accounting records can be kept at a location that yourself as the Director would think suitable, please see the following HMRC link at 3.1:
    Company accounts guidance - GOV.UK

    If HMRC ever needed to see the accounting records, they would usually let you know beforehand to ensure the records would be available at either the registered office or trading address of the company.

    Hope this helps!
    Dolan Accountancy

    Contractor Umbrella

    01442 795 100

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      #3
      Records

      Not quite, your accounting records can be kept in the cloud, which many do these days through one of the portals such as Freeagent, Xero, etc.

      Accounting records can be kept anywhere at the discretion of the directors, as long as safe and secure of course.

      Comment


        #4
        Originally posted by DolanAccountancyJames View Post
        Your accounting records can be kept at a location that yourself as the Director would think suitable, please see the following HMRC link at 3.1:
        Company accounts guidance - GOV.UK

        If HMRC ever needed to see the accounting records, they would usually let you know beforehand to ensure the records would be available at either the registered office or trading address of the company.

        Hope this helps!
        Originally posted by Dom at Fox Bartfield View Post
        Not quite, your accounting records can be kept in the cloud, which many do these days through one of the portals such as Freeagent, Xero, etc.

        Accounting records can be kept anywhere at the discretion of the directors, as long as safe and secure of course.
        Thank you both, that gov.uk link with detailed advice was very helpful!

        The exact advice that gov.uk link is:

        3.1 Where to keep your company’s accounting records
        A company must keep its accounting records at its registered office address or a place that the directors think suitable. The records must be open to inspection by the company’s officers at all times.

        If the company holds the records at a place outside of the UK, it must send accounts and returns at least every six months and keep them in the UK. Those accounts and returns must disclose the financial position and enable the directors to prepare accounts that comply with the requirements of the Companies Act, including where the accounts are prepared using International Accounting Standards.
        I'll note that when googling this my question before I made this thread, some websites (they were of the form "XXXformations.co.uk") explicitly stated that the accounting records must be kept at the registered office or SAIL address, which is clearly WRONG!

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