Telling the Authorities About Your Company Changes

Newsletter issue - October 08.

When you make changes to your company, such as its name, address, or contact details you need to tell Companies House and sometimes also HMRC. If you don't do this promptly vital forms may go missing and you could be fined for not completing those forms on time. You may have to inform HMRC multiple times as the departments that deal with the various different taxes do not share basic information very well.

For example...

• Company name change. If you want to change the name of your company you need to contact Companies House first. To change the company's name the director or company secretary needs to sign a written resolution, and send it to Companies House with a £10 fee.
• Registered office. A change of registered office can be done online using the Companies House web filing service, or by completing a paper version of form 287. Once Companies House has processed the change in name or registered office they will tell HMRC who will update their records within 14 days.
• Resignations. When a director or company secretary resigns their post, you need to tell Companies House as soon as possible. This can also be done online through the Companies House web filing service or by completing paper form 288b. If the director or company secretary needs to be removed from your company's payroll, you need to tell the PAYE department of HMRC. If you are registered to use the PAYE online filing service you can alter these details online.
• Other contact details. If you have altered other details about your company, such as the contact address (not the registered office) telephone or fax numbers, you can amend these details with HMRC using the online corporation tax service. If these contact details are also used for VAT and PAYE you need to tell those departments separately.

If you let us know what changes have occurred we can take care of matters for you.