Entrepreneur Visa clarifications

[dnf]

Dear All,

I have noticed a number of queries on this board and as a regular user of this board, i thought it may be helpful if I clarify a number of points.

1. Accountants report on Financial statements - A number of people have raised this point as to why the accountants report is signed by the accountants firm instead of the accountant himself/herself. This is because it is the required format and is emphasized by the accountants association (ACCA, ICAEW, CIMA etc). A point that you should be careful about is to ensure that the accountant is fully qualified and the firm is regulated by ACCA, ICAEW, CIMA etc. In some cases, the accountant may very well be qualified by the firm is not and although it may be hard for Home Office to pick this up but may be wise for you to avoid this in order to secure your visa or extension.

2. Indicate control under director report - Under directors report, you cannot indicate that the company is controlled by you due to the virtue of your shareholding in the company. However, the last notes on the financial statements can indicate that this company is controlled by XYZ due to the virtue of his/her shareholding. If your accountant is providing you with management accounts instead of accounts filed prepared under companies act 2006 than the control could be indicated on the director report of management accounts

3. Breakdown of shares on Financial statements - The shares that the company has issued in return of the payment from the shareholders can only be shown on the financial statements. If you bought those shares on a number of different occasions than they cannot be shown separately on the financial statements. However, you can ask your accountant to issue a number of share certificates, which will show the number of shares you bought on each intervals and the amount paid. The accountant can also issue you one share certificate, outlining the different dates the shares were bought, the number and the amount paid, which will be equal to the total shares on the financial statement.

If your accountant is providing you with management accounts instead of accounts filed prepared under companies act 2006 than the breakdown of shares with the amount, the number of shares and the dates they were bought could be shown under notes of management accounts

4. Full payment submission report - It is highly recommended that you provide the monthly FPS instead of the summary. It is important that you provide the payslips of all the employees, the monthly FPS filed to HMRC for all the employees, the P11's as they show the start and leaving date of employees. You should also provide the P46 of all the employees. Please ensure that all the documents are signed by yourself.

5. How many employees to include - Some applicants on this forum have asked if they should include only the required 2 employees or if they should include all the employees. Al though the requirement may just be to have 2 full time employees for 12 months but you showing all the employees will earn you a better trust that you are a legitimate business and will help you with genuine entrepreneur test.

6. Director Loan agreement - You may have loaned the company on a few different intervals. One director loan agreement outlining the date the money was loaned to would suffice. Please ensure to attach your personal and business account statements showing the transfer, which should equates to the amount on director loan

7. Current appointment report - You need a current appointment report and the recent filing history from companies house. You can get that through the old web check system still available on companies house. You should also include the latest confirmation statements from companies house. Please ensure that you sign those reports

8. Accountant Letter - Please ensure that your accountant confirms your shareholding in the company and the dates those shares were bought or the amount you have loaned to the company, that you are the director of the company and indicates his/her qualifications. You should also get the employment creation letters from your accountant. Your accountant should also provide you a letter that confirms that the accounts were prepared by them and include their qualifications.

9. You receive your statement of liability once your CT600 is filed - please ensure that you provide this with your application. If there is a liability shown that you have already paid than include the payment confirmation for the safer side. If you have not filed the CT600 than you must have also received an initial documents from HMRC outlining your corporation tax reference. Please include that.

10. If your company is VAT registered than include the VAT registration certificate with the last 1-4 VAT returns which will assist you with genuine entrepreneur test.

11. Please ensure that you have employers liability insurance and if you are a professional who requires professional indemnity or involved in a business that requires personal liability insurance than make sure you include those.

12. Write a detailed cover letter outlining the documents provided and how they have fulfilled the requirements. You should also outline the documents that you provided and were not required by Home Office. Some may argue that why provide information, which is not required? The reason of this is to ensure that nothing is missed out from your application, which Home Office can argue about. If you have kept the copies of the documents sent including the cover letter than you have a stronger chance of success during AR in case if the case worker forgot to look at a certain document.

13. It doesn't hurt to sign all the documents as you don't want your application to get refused due to a simple error.

Please note that as a fully qualified and award winning Chartered Certified Accountant and on Entrepreneur visa myself with successful extension, I am fully qualified to clear the points concerning financial statements, shares certificates, director loan agreement and RTI. I am not a lawyer so I am not qualified to advice on immigration law.

I will try my level best to answer any queries that you may have. I do not check this board on a regular basis so bear with me if your questions are not answered immediately.

[jafersadeq]

Dear dnf,
Many thanks for your information,
My accountant is FCCA but he is working in a company which prepared my annual accounts, he signed the report, but the company he is working with does not have FCCA, but all its accountants have FCCA.

Please advise

[dnf]

Dear dnf,
Many thanks for your information,
My accountant is FCCA but he is working in a company which prepared my annual accounts, he signed the report, but the company he is working with does not have FCCA, but all its accountants have FCCA.

Please advise

In my opinion, if all the accountants are FCCA including the directors and shareholders of the firm than the company may also be an ACCA regulated firm. The requirements are for the accounts to be signed by a qualified Accountant, which I believe is met in your situation. The suggestion of using a suitably qualified firm with the suitably qualified accountant is to ensure that Home Office does not pick a rather irrelevant point.

[jafersadeq]

Dear dnf,
Many thanks for your information,
My accountant is FCCA but he is working in a company which prepared my annual accounts, he signed the report, but the company he is working with does not have FCCA, but all its accountants have FCCA.

Please advise

In my opinion, if all the accountants are FCCA including the directors and shareholders of the firm than the company may also be an ACCA regulated firm. The requirements are for the accounts to be signed by a qualified Accountant, which I believe is met in your situation. The suggestion of using a suitably qualified firm with the suitably qualified accountant is to ensure that Home Office does not pick a rather irrelevant point.

Dear dnf,

The rules say "Accountant" , I think they want to see ACCA accountant's signature,
The directors of that firm do not have ACCA, just the accountants working with them.
Please advise,
Thanks,

[zamaha]

Dear dnf
Thanks for your kindly clarification
I am strugling with an issue that you may help me.
Last week I received a letter from hmrc about self assessment tax return penalty. I am sole director of my company and I did not know that I needed to do that. Even when I asked my accountant about that last week he told me you donot need that. Of course now I know that he is wrong. By the way I contacted hmrc last week and asked them to send me the code so I can do filing ASAP. They told me they have sent me another letter last June but I did not get that. The last letter was also arrive a week after the date of letter. The fine is for £1200. They told me file first then apeal or pay the fine.

Now my question is:
1- if I apeal how long it takes to get its result?
2- do you think I need to contact ho and let them know? I had my interview 2 weeks ago and they did not ask anything about that.

I am switching from graduate entrepreneur to tier1 entrepreneur?

Thank you very much

Dear All,

I have noticed a number of queries on this board and as a regular user of this board, i thought it may be helpful if I clarify a number of points.

1. Accountants report on Financial statements - A number of people have raised this point as to why the accountants report is signed by the accountants firm instead of the accountant himself/herself. This is because it is the required format and is emphasized by the accountants association (ACCA, ICAEW, CIMA etc). A point that you should be careful about is to ensure that the accountant is fully qualified and the firm is regulated by ACCA, ICAEW, CIMA etc. In some cases, the accountant may very well be qualified by the firm is not and although it may be hard for Home Office to pick this up but may be wise for you to avoid this in order to secure your visa or extension.

2. Indicate control under director report - Under directors report, you cannot indicate that the company is controlled by you due to the virtue of your shareholding in the company. However, the last notes on the financial statements can indicate that this company is controlled by XYZ due to the virtue of his/her shareholding. If your accountant is providing you with management accounts instead of accounts filed prepared under companies act 2006 than the control could be indicated on the director report of management accounts

3. Breakdown of shares on Financial statements - The shares that the company has issued in return of the payment from the shareholders can only be shown on the financial statements. If you bought those shares on a number of different occasions than they cannot be shown separately on the financial statements. However, you can ask your accountant to issue a number of share certificates, which will show the number of shares you bought on each intervals and the amount paid. The accountant can also issue you one share certificate, outlining the different dates the shares were bought, the number and the amount paid, which will be equal to the total shares on the financial statement.

If your accountant is providing you with management accounts instead of accounts filed prepared under companies act 2006 than the breakdown of shares with the amount, the number of shares and the dates they were bought could be shown under notes of management accounts

4. Full payment submission report - It is highly recommended that you provide the monthly FPS instead of the summary. It is important that you provide the payslips of all the employees, the monthly FPS filed to HMRC for all the employees, the P11's as they show the start and leaving date of employees. You should also provide the P46 of all the employees. Please ensure that all the documents are signed by yourself.

5. How many employees to include - Some applicants on this forum have asked if they should include only the required 2 employees or if they should include all the employees. Al though the requirement may just be to have 2 full time employees for 12 months but you showing all the employees will earn you a better trust that you are a legitimate business and will help you with genuine entrepreneur test.

6. Director Loan agreement - You may have loaned the company on a few different intervals. One director loan agreement outlining the date the money was loaned to would suffice. Please ensure to attach your personal and business account statements showing the transfer, which should equates to the amount on director loan

7. Current appointment report - You need a current appointment report and the recent filing history from companies house. You can get that through the old web check system still available on companies house. You should also include the latest confirmation statements from companies house. Please ensure that you sign those reports

8. Accountant Letter - Please ensure that your accountant confirms your shareholding in the company and the dates those shares were bought or the amount you have loaned to the company, that you are the director of the company and indicates his/her qualifications. You should also get the employment creation letters from your accountant. Your accountant should also provide you a letter that confirms that the accounts were prepared by them and include their qualifications.

9. You receive your statement of liability once your CT600 is filed - please ensure that you provide this with your application. If there is a liability shown that you have already paid than include the payment confirmation for the safer side. If you have not filed the CT600 than you must have also received an initial documents from HMRC outlining your corporation tax reference. Please include that.

10. If your company is VAT registered than include the VAT registration certificate with the last 1-4 VAT returns which will assist you with genuine entrepreneur test.

11. Please ensure that you have employers liability insurance and if you are a professional who requires professional indemnity or involved in a business that requires personal liability insurance than make sure you include those.

12. Write a detailed cover letter outlining the documents provided and how they have fulfilled the requirements. You should also outline the documents that you provided and were not required by Home Office. Some may argue that why provide information, which is not required? The reason of this is to ensure that nothing is missed out from your application, which Home Office can argue about. If you have kept the copies of the documents sent including the cover letter than you have a stronger chance of success during AR in case if the case worker forgot to look at a certain document.

13. It doesn't hurt to sign all the documents as you don't want your application to get refused due to a simple error.

Please note that as a fully qualified and award winning Chartered Certified Accountant and on Entrepreneur visa myself with successful extension, I am fully qualified to clear the points concerning financial statements, shares certificates, director loan agreement and RTI. I am not a lawyer so I am not qualified to advice on immigration law.

I will try my level best to answer any queries that you may have. I do not check this board on a regular basis so bear with me if your questions are not answered immediately.

[dnf]

Hi Zamaha,

It is entirely an accounting question which I will reply to assist. However the OPs may raise a concern of diverting from the topic.

You got this fine as your 2015 assessment was not filed and it has now been over 9 months overdue. In some circumstances, especially if you are employed by one company and a director of another company or if HMRC believes that you had another source of income which was not taxed at source than they register you for self employment purposes. They must have sent you a welcom letter and it is correct that you need to file the assessment and than appeal.

The filing the assessment and the appeal process could take anywhere from 1-3 months or more as HMRC may take some time to process the information. If you were not suppose to file the assessment and all your income had been taxed at source than the penalty will be waived. You will need the help of your accountant as there are certain requirements that needs to be met and process to be followed which should be best done by an accountant.

Regarding you informing this to Home office than it is a civil penalty which issued after 31/01/16 and if it is before you applied for your visa than raise some concerns. Failure to inform may come under deceit. However as mentioned in my post that I am a chartered certified accountant and not qualified to advice on immigration matters which is why you should consult a lawyer.