Every week we take a look at what is trending in the accountancy and tax press and share items that we think will interest you. However, these are only outlines and where they relate to tax planning should not be acted upon without looking into them more completely as everyone’s circumstances are particular to them. You need to take specific advice appropriate to your own circumstances.

While every effort is made to deliver accurate, informative and balanced articles, this content is general in nature and should not be used as the sole basis for making decisions.

 

Companies House

The personal code numbers will be for life and you should never need to go through the verification process again.

If someone is both a director and a person with significant control (PSC), validation is expected to be a two-stage process. The confirmation statement will be filed including personal codes for the directors. Subsequently you go back in and file the personal codes for the PSCs (even though these are the same people and the same codes).

For new directors it will not be possible to submit a form notifying Companies House of their appointment without quoting that individual’s Companies House personal ID code. In other words, that individual will need to verify their ID to the satisfaction of Companies House before the notice of their appointment can be filed.

We are authorised as an ACSP (Authorised Corporate Service Provider).

Directors and PSCs can verify their own ID with Companies House who will issue them a unique personal code. Alternatively, as an ACSP we can do this for you.

If we are filing your confirmation statement, we will need the personal code number of each director (from 18 November 2025).

Only ACSPs will be able to file accounts online at Companies |House from spring 2026).

From 13 October 2025, you will need to use gov.uk One Login to sign in to your WebFiling account. Companies House is suggesting that you use the same email address for both accounts (if you have both) and you log in via the gov.uk One Login. A gov.uk One Login is personal to you and not your business.

Companies House requires that every director has their own email address so that no two company directors can verify their ID using the same email address. The gov.uk One Login is intended for an individual person (a human being, not a company).

If a company has successfully filed a Confirmation Statement with a made-up date on or after 18 November 2025, then you can conclude that Companies House is satisfied that all the company’s directors at that time have verified their ID.

If you lose your personal number start by going to https://www.gov.uk/get-information-about-a-company, sign in or register and then make your way to Manage Account and this will give you all of the codes for your company.

The position with PSCs is slightly different. The ID of a PSC has to be verified to the satisfaction of Companies House.

If the PSC is also a director of the company, the ID of the PSC is required to be verified within 14 days after the made-up date of the confirmation statement. If the individual first becomes a PSC on or after 18 November 2025, the ID of the PSC is required to be verified within 14 days of them being added to the Companies House register. Otherwise, the ID of the PSC is required to be verified within 14 days of the start of the month in which their birthday first occurs on or after 1 November 2025.

You do not have to have verified the ID of the PSCs in order to submit the confirmation statement.

Companies House will keep a track of which ACSP has verified the ID of each director or PSC.

 

Tax-Saving Plans can Backfire

Ahead of every budget, the media is always full of speculation about what measures are expected. For example, there has been speculation about restrictions to IHT for over 20 years. Now they can say ”I told you so”.

There is a general expectation that Rachel Reeves will need more funds, and she will be turning to HMRC to help balance the books. It is human nature that people will speculate what changes are expected and many will try to save tax by taking action ahead of the budget.

If the Chancellor of the Exchequer does make the tax changes that an individual or a company seeks to avoid, then this strategy can be of immense value. However, if the imagined changes proved to be a fantasy, you could find yourself out of pocket or tied into unnecessary arrangements that cannot be reversed. This mistaken tax planning could therefore have a negative effect.

You may decide to follow a certain course of action and the immediate downside will be the professional fees. That most certainly will be a sunk cost, as soon as they are spent, even if the arrangements achieve absolutely nothing. Depending on your actions there is also a risk of becoming involved in a lengthy and costly HMRC investigation.

This time we know that there are changes to IHT on the horizon. There is likely to be an IHT saving  by making gifts to family members, which as long as you survive for seven years should circumvent the tax. Even if you don’t manage seven years, there could be tax savings.

There is a danger to becoming obsessed about saving taxes without considering the real-life commercial consequences.

If you give something away, you have given it away. You can’t easily get it back and the trying could result in family tensions.

Typically, the most bitter feuds take place between spouses or partners when the relationship breaks down and an individual comes to regret sharing assets with someone whom they subsequently come to hate. In the case of inheritance tax, transfers between spouses are tax free. Gifts to the next generation or possibly someone else has the potential to lead to regrets at a later date as potentially, you have lost control over those assets. So, giving a much-loved family heirloom, a house or something else to a child might make perfect tax planning sense but could backfire.

Giving away shares in your family company may make perfect tax sense but what if the new shareholders decide that you are past your sell by date and opt to remove you from the board.

For the most part, unless you have access to a cast-iron Budget leak, investing time and money into tax planning on the basis of current media speculation is always going to have a high level of risk.

We know of people who set up trusts to save IHT  amongst other things, on assets including family homes. These trusts are now ineffective and save no tax, but the trust exists and must continue to be maintained at a a cost each year.

 

Companies House – Stolen IDs

In June Companies House removed 10,000 businesses from the register for ‘illicit activities’, after finding just 30 entities had incorporated 50,000 companies. More than 118,000 cases of identity fraud were recorded between January and June 2025 by the fraud prevention service Cifas. The amount of fraud has increased due to the use of AI identities and fake profiles.

A common technique used by criminals is the registering of the names of innocent people as directors of fraudulent businesses, and use of their home addresses by criminals as fake company’s registered addresses.

People who think their identity and address have been stolen by fraudsters can now use an online form to report the incident, instead of having to report the issue to Companies House via email or by letter in the post.

The online form takes around five to ten minutes, as long as all the available information is on hand, including the name and company number of the business that has stolen the details as it appears on the Companies House register.

If the name has been misused alone, no proof of individual identity such as a passport or driving licence is required initially, according to the online form.

It is important to clarify whether the individual name has been used without permission for the particular role, including directors, company secretary and person with significant control (PSC) or beneficial owners.

If an address has been misused, Companies House requires details of when the personal address was first used and evidence of the right to live at the address.

Evidence can include an energy bill dated within the last six months, a council tax bill or land registry deed dated within the last 12 months, a written agreement allowing use of the address, or documents showing rights such as a leasehold or freehold.

Companies House has a helpline for the new reporting service on 0303 1234 500 which is open Monday to Friday, 8.30am to 6pm.

The reporting tool has been launched as new rules on ID verification and personal codes for directors come into effect from 18 November.

 

What do accountants do?

ICAS recently undertook a survey and found that 50% of people do not understand what accountants do.

Two thirds of the respondents said that technology has made it easier for them to do their own accounting. In a changing market, a major challenge, which is not unique to accountants, is staying relevant as more people use online tools.

Many people still mainly associate accountants with tax and bookkeeping activities and for firms like ours, this is our bread and butter. But, of course we also provide other advisory services.

58% of accountants in the survey believed the profession should focus on its core roles, while there is a wider perception that there are opportunities to evolve to meet the future needs of society.

 

Get Tax Returns Correct and Complete

HMRC has published guidance setting out what it expects of taxpayers who are considering applying novel or improbable interpretations of the law or are uncertain how the law applies when submitting a tax return or similar document.

HMRC views a novel interpretation of the law as “one that a court or tribunal has not considered” and believes that the taxpayer, having taken advice, should believe that “the courts and tribunals are most likely to find that interpretation to be correct” before adopting it.

HMRC reminds all taxpayers that the accuracy of the return remains their responsibility even where professional advice has been taken.

 

Report and Pay Your Capital Gains Tax

If you sold a property in the UK on or after 6 April 2020 you must report and pay any Capital Gains Tax due on UK residential property within 60 days of selling the property (30 days before 26 October 2021).

You may have to pay interest and a penalty if you do not report and pay on time.

If your property was jointly owned, you only report your own share of the gain or loss.

If you’re a UK resident, you do not need to report your gains online if your total gains are less than the tax-free allowance.

Use a Capital Gains Tax on UK property account to:

• report and pay any tax due on UK property
• view or change a previous return

If you’re already registered for Self-Assessment, you’ll also need to include details of the sale in your

 

Are You Guilty of Failure to Prevent Fraud

The failure to prevent fraud offence places direct responsibility on large organisations to stop fraud from happening within their ranks. Introduced as part of the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 (ECCTA), the offence came into effect from September 2025.

This new offence is designed to hold companies accountable when someone associated with them, such as an employee, agent, or subsidiary commits fraud with the intention of benefiting the business.

Crucially, the business does not need to know the fraud is taking place to be held liable. The belief that existing compliance policies are adequate is a risky assumption.

If a business cannot prove that it had ‘reasonable procedures’, in place to prevent such an offence, it could face significant fines and irreparable reputational harm.

The offence only applies to ‘large organisations’, defined as those meeting at least two of three thresholds: more than £36m in turnover, more than £18m in assets, or more than 250 employees but the ramifications may well be felt by anyone dealing with them.

It is also important to note that these thresholds apply globally so even if a UK entity is small, the business may still be defined as a large organisation because of its global group structure.

 

IHT and DLA

A director’s loan account (DLA) is within their IHT estate, being ‘the aggregate of all the property to which they are beneficially entitled’.

If you decide to assign the balance, say to your family, it will be a potentially exempt transfer (PET).

This means that the transfer will be an exempt transfer if you survive seven years or more after making the PET. However, if you die within seven years this becomes a chargeable transfer ( a ‘failed’ PET).

It is important to remember that whilst the IHT is computed in reference to your estate, the gift recipient is primarily liable for the IHT.

There is a risk that this gift may be challenged as falling within the Gifts with Reservation rules. If the company pays a commercial rate of interest on the loan to it, this will help to reduce this risk.

 

Questions?

If you have any questions about any of these, you know where to find us. If you prefer, just give me a ring on 07770 738770 or email me at alan.long@thelongpartnership.co.uk.