HMRC and Companies House are two entirely separate Government functions with little interaction between them. For the business owner this means that the same information may need to be filed with both organisations. For example accounts and tax returns as well as changes to details such as change of addresses.
HMRC
HMRC is His Majesty’s Revenue & Customs. It’s the government department charged with collecting the right amount of tax.
There is an HMRC Charter which sets out the standards of behaviour and values to which HMRC should follow. The Charter, which is a legal requirement can be read at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/hmrc-charter/the-hmrc-charter.
HMRC refer to tax payers as customers which is rather bizarre as customers would usually have the choice of where they give their custom. A tax payer cannot shop elsewhere so it is hard to see why the term customer is used.
HMRC refer to accountants and tax advisors as Agents. Before an Agent can deal with HMRC on your behalf there is an authorisation process which must be followed. This is done by an ‘Authorising your agent (64-8)‘ form. Your Agent may start the authorisation process online in which case, after they have done this, HMRC will send a letter with an authorisation code by post to you within 7 working days. This code must quickly be passed onto your Agent so that they can complete the set up. If this doesn’t happen within 30 days the code will expire and the process needs to start again. Whilst this applies to most of the taxes, VAT is slightly different. HMRC would usually send you a link to use to log into your Government Gateway to authorise your accountant.
You can file a self assessment tax return at HMRC through your Personal Tax Account. You will also be able to see what you have filed, tax owed, advise HMRC of any changes in your details as well as other things through your Personal Tax Account log on.
If you have a limited company you can set up a Business Tax Account.
If you have an accountant they will use their own commercial software for filing returns and accounts with HMRC and they will not use, nor should they have, your tax account log on details in any circumstances.
For any filings to be made at HMRC, either by you or your accountant, you will need your tax reference numbers. There is a different reference number for each type of tax being income tax, corporation tax, PAYE or VAT as applicable.
Companies House
Companies House incorporate and dissolve limited companies in the UK. They maintain the register of companies, hold company information and make it available to the public. They do not hold any information about sole traders.
You can search for the details of any company and the filings that they have made on the Companies House web site.
Limited companies will file their annual accounts at Companies House but not the tax return. In addition there will be a separate filing of the annual Confirmation Statement as well as periodic, as needed, filings of any changes on the details of the Limited Company such as change in directors.
To file anything with Companies House you will need the company number and the unique company authentication code. If you do not have the authentication code it can be requested at:
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/company-authentication-codes-for-online-filing
The code is usually sent to the registered office of the company. If you do not have access to the company’s registered office then you can, in certain circumstances, ask for the code to be send to your home address.