Running a limited company: your responsibilities

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Company and accounting records

You must use a business bank account for your Limited Company. You must also keep:

  • records about the company itself
  • financial and accounting records

You can hire a professional (for example, an accountant) to help with your tax.

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) may check your records with a compliance check to make sure you바카라 사이트™re paying the right amount of tax.

Records about the company

You must keep details of:

  • directors, shareholders and company secretaries
  • the results of any shareholder votes and resolutions
  • promises for the company to repay loans at a specific date in the future (바카라 사이트˜debentures바카라 사이트™) and who they must be paid back to
  • promises the company makes for payments if something goes wrong and it바카라 사이트™s the company바카라 사이트™s fault (바카라 사이트˜indemnities바카라 사이트™)
  • transactions when someone buys shares in the company
  • loans or mortgages secured against the company바카라 사이트™s assets

You must tell Companies House if you keep the records somewhere other than the company바카라 사이트™s registered office address.

Register of 바카라 사이트˜people with significant control바카라 사이트™

You must also keep a register of 바카라 사이트˜people with significant control바카라 사이트™ (PSC). Your PSC register must include details of anyone who:

  • has more than 25% shares or voting rights in your company
  • can appoint or remove a majority of directors
  • can influence or control your company or trust

You still need to keep a record if there are no people with significant control.

Read more guidance on keeping a PSC register if your company바카라 사이트™s ownership and control is not simple.

Accounting records

You must keep accounting records that include:

  • all money received and spent by the company, including grants and payments from coronavirus (COVID-19) support schemes
  • details of assets owned by the company
  • debts the company owes or is owed
  • stock the company owns at the end of the financial year
  • the stocktakings you used to work out the stock figure
  • all goods bought and sold
  • who you bought and sold them to and from (unless you run a retail business)

You must also keep any other financial records, information and calculations you need to prepare and file your annual accounts and Company Tax Return. This includes records of:

  • all money spent by the company, for example receipts, petty cash books, orders and delivery notes
  • all money received by the company, for example invoices, contracts, sales books and till rolls
  • any other relevant documents, for example bank statements and correspondence

You can be fined £3,000 by HMRC or disqualified as a company director if you do not keep accounting records.

How long to keep records

You must keep records for 6 years from the end of the last company financial year they relate to, or longer if:

  • they show a transaction that covers more than one of the company바카라 사이트™s accounting periods
  • the company has bought something that it expects to last more than 6 years, like equipment or machinery
  • you sent your Company Tax Return late
  • HMRC has started a compliance check into your Company Tax Return

If your records are lost, stolen or destroyed

If you cannot replace your records after they were lost, stolen or destroyed you must:

View a printable version of the whole guide

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