Financial Requirements for a Sole Trader/Limited Company

Hello all,

I turned to similar message boards 2 years ago while switching from a post-study work visa to a Spouse/Partner visa and got a lot of great help and I'm hoping to again get some assistance from those that may be more knowledgeable then I.

My situation:
My current Spouse/Partner Visa expires at the end of October.

I am self employed, a director of a limited company I set up a few years ago.

My companies income was well about the financial threshold (when you subtract bills, taxes and occasional freelance staff payments the figure drops but is still about the minimum required)

From what I gather I could provide company bank statements over the last business year (April 2015-April 2016) and in this instance that would be fine. The issue I have is that it seems to also say I need to provide personal bank statements over the same period to show I've been paid by myself. Perhaps not a big issue to most people however I (stupidly) have not been paying myself into my personal account. I keep all money in the business account and pay bills, taxes and personal expenses out of it directly.

Also my accountants have given me a salary of just around 10,600 (to keep personal tax at a minimum) so even if I had been paying myself it would be below the minimum. So I suppose my questions are as follows.

A) Can I retroactively pay myself for the past year within the next two months. Along the lines of 2600 every two weeks...will that cause any issues or in the end would it be just the same as paying the near 900 a month over the year.

B) If I can't retroactively pay would my personal statements not showing money coming in negate the income of my business? If I can prove that my business turned over higher then 18,600 in profit then surely this should be sufficient, no?

I'm sorry if any of that doesn't make sense, I am in worried mode right now so just typing what I can think of at the moment. At the end of the day it is my fault for not 'paying' myself but I am hoping beyond hope that there is a way to fix this. I'll have been married and happy for over 2 and half years when the renewal is due and I'd hate my flub to cause a horrible situation.

Any and all help/advice would be massively appreciated.

Thanks

If you are a director of a limited company you are NOT self employed.

The Ltd itself is a separate legal body and the income assets and cash belong to it, not you. The only way to extract money personally is via PAYE/Dividend, and pay the taxes due.

I suggest you get you accountant to sort the mess out, drawing cash from the company account is a definite no-no, and without the correct payslips, dividend vouchers and tax paid the UKVI will be over you like a rash, since they talk to HMRC.

After it's sorted, draw the £1550 a month you need to qualify for the visa, along with paying the tax, and apply after 6 months.

Does your spouse work?

She worked up until July of last year and is now a full time student going for her MA.

Wanderer:
Just wondering how the finances from 6 months of 2016 can make up for the financial year of 2015-2016. Sorry, very confused by all of this (obviously).

LondonNewYorker wrote:She worked up until July of last year and is now a full time student going for her MA.

Wanderer:
Just wondering how the finances from 6 months of 2016 can make up for the financial year of 2015-2016. Sorry, very confused by all of this (obviously).

Your payslips wouldn't match your bank credits.

Wanderer wrote:

LondonNewYorker wrote:She worked up until July of last year and is now a full time student going for her MA.

Wanderer:
Just wondering how the finances from 6 months of 2016 can make up for the financial year of 2015-2016. Sorry, very confused by all of this (obviously).

Your payslips wouldn't match your bank credits.

But once the above mess is sorted (hopefully) I could use bank slips and such from say Feb/Mar til Jul/Aug instead?

LondonNewYorker wrote:

Wanderer wrote:

LondonNewYorker wrote:She worked up until July of last year and is now a full time student going for her MA.

Wanderer:
Just wondering how the finances from 6 months of 2016 can make up for the financial year of 2015-2016. Sorry, very confused by all of this (obviously).

Your payslips wouldn't match your bank credits.

But once the above mess is sorted (hopefully) I could use bank slips and such from say Feb/Mar til Jul/Aug instead?

Ahh, yes, I get you now! Yes that sounds like a plan, all you will need is the six months payslips showing £1550 pa or more and the same amount appearing in your personal bank statements. Obviously the Ltd's tax affairs etc should all be in order too, UKVI are very diligent on tax now.

Ahh, yes, I get you now! Yes that sounds like a plan, all you will need is the six months payslips showing £1550 pa or more and the same amount appearing in your personal bank statements. Obviously the Ltd's tax affairs etc should all be in order too, UKVI are very diligent on tax now.

OK, so if I am the Director of the Limited Company (Which I am) then I can use payslips and bank statements from six months prior to the application to show an average of 1550 or more per month even though I as the Director control what I as the individual gets paid?

So in other words does UK immigration look at me as two different entities or at least will they accept that I now pay myself that amount in salary?

Thanks so much again for your answers, they are very helpful thus far.