Can I just pay myself a salary?

It is not possible to self-employed deliver the services of your own limited firm (meaning you can just pay yourself a gross wage and without having to worry about PAYE).

There is no reason why a company director cannot also have a fully independent self-employment that is unrelated to their firm. Sarah, for example, has a plumbing company as well as a small-scale cake-baking business that she runs on her own. However, it would be unusual for directors to work as self-employed contractors for their own organisations. This is owing to the regulations governing collecting money from a limited corporation as a director.

Directors are considered 'office holders,' which means that any money earned from directorial tasks is subject to PAYE. In theory, they may be able to conduct additional firm activities NOT linked to the function of director on a self-employed basis, by being hired by their own company to carry out the work on its behalf. However, this is usually only the case if they have a true specialty expertise unrelated to the company's main operation and give it to other businesses in addition to their own. This would be quite unusual in a personal service firm scenario, especially for persons with low incomes, thus we do not consider it further in our advise.

The IR35 restrictions/off payroll rules may make determining if you are self-employed challenging. According to these statutes, if a director seems to be an employee of the end client for whom they operate while working for their limited business, they must pay same amount of tax/NIC as an average worker..

You may be exempt from these requirements if you appear to be a self-employed individual working for the end client rather than an employee (as per the general status tests). However, this 'self-employed' assessment only applies when determining whether IR35/off-payroll requirements apply. It has no effect on the director's actual position in terms of the kind of the money paid to them by their limited business - it is still salary/dividends, etc.

Can I hire an accountant to assist me with the paperwork?

Yes, but even if you pay someone to handle all of your administrative duties, as a company director, you are ultimately accountable for ensuring that everything is in order.

Using an accountant may incur large expenditures, which might significantly negate any financial benefit of operating as a limited company  Accounts (see above). As a result, you should ensure that you understand how fees will be computed and what they will cover. Make sure you understand any penalties if you join up to pay for a 'bundle' of services on an ongoing basis but decide to depart early.

Many people use the title "accountant," yet they may not have any professional qualifications. When selecting an accountant, you must exercise extreme caution.

If an agency or umbrella company asks you to work through a limited company, you may find that they provide limited company accounting services for you, and you do not get to choose the accountant. You should nevertheless ensure that you understand whether the accountants are appropriately qualified and the fee agreements.

• Special tax rules: IR35/off-the-books employment
• If your limited company provides your services, you must evaluate the implications of the intermediaries' regulation, often known as IR35/the 'off payroll' legislation, in certain cases.

On our intermediates page, we go over these principles in greater detail. Please keep in mind that some rules are quite difficult, and expert assistance would be required if they apply.

How can I dissolve a limited business that I formed?

This is dependent on whether the limited business you established has ever traded. If a limited company has never actually traded in reality (that is, it has never submitted an invoice or received any income into its bank account), you should fill out a form to request that the firm be struck from the Companies Register.

You should send a copy to HMRC together with a covering letter noting that the company has never traded and requesting that the corporation tax record be closed down.

In any other scenario, you must take the necessary actions to ensure that the limited company is correctly closed down, or you may be left with messy limited company and corporation tax compliance concerns that will follow you for years.

If you pay for accounting services, you should be aware that they may not be willing to handle the closure of your limited company as part of their standard charge.