Dividend 02/04/2012 - accountant ignoring it for 11/12 SA

[PTP]

I paid myself a dividend on 02/04/2012 (My only dividend between 6 Apr 11 & 5 Apr 12).

I was expecting this to add to the tax bill for 2011/2012 self-assessment. After all, the form clearly says "This notice requires you, by law, to make a return of your taxable income and capital gains, and any documents requested, for the year from 6 April 2011 to 5 April 2012.

But my accountants say that their software only picks up payments made up to 31st March 2012. And so presumably they would forget about the 02/04/2012 dividend until the 2012/2013 SA.

Is it correct what they've done / can they get away with it?


Thanks

[Clare@InTouch]

Are they refusing to include it, or saying that their software ignores it but they'll add it in manually?

Absolutely complain if its the former, as that's technically incorrect as well as plain daft.

[PTP]

Thanks Clare

When I said to them that I think they've forgotten this dividend, they desribed how their software works. They then suggested only declaring a fraction of it in 11/12 - which I'm quite surprised.

On Monday I'll test them by asking them to include the full dividend manually.

[captainham]

An accountant limited by their own software as opposed to tax legislation...that's a new one on me!

If after you speak to them they still refuse to budge, then I'd be looking for a new accountant as it sounds like they could be getting you into a lot of hot water if you're not careful.

[Jessica@WhiteFieldTax]

I can understand exactly why that happened, relating it to how our software & procedures for accounts and tax interact - we would, by default, do the same.

However there is no reason other than laziness why it can't be manually corrected. It shouldn't be more than a few minutes, and if they suggest charging you for it the refer them to Gordon Ramsay

[PTP]

Haven't got round to asking them yet. I wanted to check their other figures first and I've found some other Q's.

Of course that dividend related to work where I assumed I was outside IR35.
However, I assumed another contract was inside.

For the work I did in March 2012 (where I assumed I was inside), payment from agency wasn't received until late April and I didn't pay myself a salary until May. So should this money be included in the 11/12 SA?

Thanks

[Greg@CapitalCity]

For the work I did in March 2012 (where I assumed I was inside), payment from agency wasn't received until late April and I didn't pay myself a salary until May. So should this money be included in the 11/12 SA?

The IR35 deemed payment calculation is done on a cash basis. So if that payment was received late April 2012 for work that was caught by IR35, it would not be in your 2011/12 tax return (and would instead be reported in your 2012/13 earnings).

[PTP]

Thanks Greg