Corporation Tax

I think you need to step back several steps here.

It looks as if you have been very poorly advised to date as you certainly don’t have to be a company to register for data protection. It is equally applicable a sole trader. Moreover I can’t quite understand why your activity would even qualify for registration under the act although for £35 it is often easier just to register than consider if it applies!

From a tax point of view it may also be a bad idea holding the intellectual rights of the software within the company. Generally speaking these are held personally and leased to the company for tax reasons. I think we covered this point in an earlier post you made.

Setting up a limited company is a big step, and from the type of questions you are asking it sounds as if you really don’t understand what you have gotten yourself into, the form you refer to is a fairly straight forward one setting you up with the tax office. If you are trading (and development counts here) you would still need to prepare proper limited company accounts and a tax return even if there is no tax to pay. You are unlikley to be able to complete these yourself - ie you will need proffesional help at some point.

I would strongly suggest you take some proper advice right now, whether from your local business link or from an accountant - you should be able to get much of it for free as an initial consultation as to whether what you have done is the correct thing for you or needs to be unwound. Sorry if this sounds really negative but companies are not something to meddle with unless you know what you are doing, and it looks as if you may well have set this up based on a misunderstanding.

Regards,

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James Smith
Chartered Accountant
www.jamesesmith.co.uk
01235 536 773

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