What Records Do You Need To Keep For Your Limited Company?


Whatever type of business you plan to start, there are records that are required for you to keep. All businesses, regardless of their industry, are required to keep income and expenditure records. This is done so that you can work out financial accounts and your annual tax returns. If you are forming a limited company like https://www.1stformations.co.uk/, there are strict record keeping regulations as well as reporting requirements set forth by Companies House and HMRC. There are also company records that are required for public inspection. If you are forming a private limited company, you will be required to keep a number of business records. These can include a register of members and company directors, the service contract for your company directors, a register of company secretaries, and a register of people with significant control in your company. You may also be required to keep records of business meetings, contracts related to share purchases, a register of debenture holders and any documents that relate to the purchase or redemption of the shares in your company.

As a general business rule, you should also keep current copies of your certificate of incorporation and the memorandum and articles of association for your company. Accounting records are also required and can include records of any goods or services that your company buys or sells as well as all forms of income and expenditures for your business. All of your company assets, credits and liabilities will need to be recorded, as well. It should go without saying that you need to have current and correct copies of all of your financial records and bank account statements. These are used to prepare your annual accounts and to calculate your corporate taxes. If you are VAT registered, then you must also keep current VAT records. Companies that hire employees also need to keep PAYE records.

It is also important to understand just how long you need to retain these records. Your company register should be maintained for the life of your company. Any accounting records that you have should be kept for a minimum of six years from the end of the financial year to which they pertain. Your business meeting minutes should be kept for at least 10 years from their date of relevance.Most of your records are permitted to be documented and maintained in digital format, which means that you do not necessarily need to keep hard copies of all of these documents. There are some records however, that do need to be on paper documentation. You can learn more about which records need to be kept in their original form at Companies House. Companies House will assume that all of your records are kept at your registered office address. If you plan to keep any of your records at another address, you are required to notify Companies House immediately of this decision and provide the address at which your records will be kept. Your statutory records must be made available for inspection on every working day from 9:00 a.m. until 3:00 p.m.