I run a one man limited company in its 10th year of trading.
I used to use an accountant but my workload dropped effectively down to zero during the recession and for the steady climb back up I continued to do my own accounts. 2 years ago I heard my old accountant had sadly passed away but I didn’t think anything about the files he held about my accounts.
I recent did my annual accounts for HMRC and Companies House. I’d previously included use of my personal car as a company cost but I’d failed to document it as a sum owed by the company to me and over several years it totalled £11K. This changed my balance sheet figure from -£13K to -£24K. I added an explanatory note but it may still look like an odd jump.
I then completed my CT600 and checked the accrued profit/loss figure from all the CT600 based on data I asked HMRC for last year. The accrued profit loss for corporation tax stands at -£11K and comparing the two figures it looked like something was wrong.
I now find myself unable to trace back to establish that everything is actually Ok or to establish what’s gone wrong without best guessing my old accountant because his widow understandably didn’t keep the records of expenses, assets and depreciation or numerous other figure that he would add to complete my accounts each year filling in things I hadn’t taken account of.
My questions are these:
Does the difference between the balance sheet and the accrued CT600’s stand out as a big red warning light or is it actually typical of many similar companies?
Is HMRC likely to sail in with an investigation and if they did am I likely to end up with a bit of a mess because I can’t comprehensively account for my company’s figures?
The company has few assets and no debts other than to myself. Should I consider closing it and starting over so that I can keep a clean slate going forward and avoid the potential threat of a spit-roasting?
I used to use an accountant but my workload dropped effectively down to zero during the recession and for the steady climb back up I continued to do my own accounts. 2 years ago I heard my old accountant had sadly passed away but I didn’t think anything about the files he held about my accounts.
I recent did my annual accounts for HMRC and Companies House. I’d previously included use of my personal car as a company cost but I’d failed to document it as a sum owed by the company to me and over several years it totalled £11K. This changed my balance sheet figure from -£13K to -£24K. I added an explanatory note but it may still look like an odd jump.
I then completed my CT600 and checked the accrued profit/loss figure from all the CT600 based on data I asked HMRC for last year. The accrued profit loss for corporation tax stands at -£11K and comparing the two figures it looked like something was wrong.
I now find myself unable to trace back to establish that everything is actually Ok or to establish what’s gone wrong without best guessing my old accountant because his widow understandably didn’t keep the records of expenses, assets and depreciation or numerous other figure that he would add to complete my accounts each year filling in things I hadn’t taken account of.
My questions are these:
Does the difference between the balance sheet and the accrued CT600’s stand out as a big red warning light or is it actually typical of many similar companies?
Is HMRC likely to sail in with an investigation and if they did am I likely to end up with a bit of a mess because I can’t comprehensively account for my company’s figures?
The company has few assets and no debts other than to myself. Should I consider closing it and starting over so that I can keep a clean slate going forward and avoid the potential threat of a spit-roasting?