How FreeAgent populates the Self Assessment tax return for limited company directors

This article explains how FreeAgent populates the different pages of your Self Assessment tax return if you are the director of a limited company and are keeping the company’s books in FreeAgent.

Declared dividends from your company

If you receive dividends from shares you have in your company, this income is reported on the Main Return page of your Self Assessment tax return.

To find this information in FreeAgent, navigate to the ‘My Money’ tab at the top of the screen and select ‘Dividends’ from the drop-down menu.

Select the relevant user and tax year from the drop-down menus.

Your dividend income for the tax year will be displayed under ‘Total Paid’.

FreeAgent will add this figure to box 4 of the 'UK interest and dividends' section on the ‘Main Return’ page of your Self Assessment tax return.

If you receive dividend income from other sources, such as dividends from shares you hold in public limited companies, you’ll need to manually enter this into the additional box 4 of the 'UK interest and dividends' section.

Your company’s salary information

Your wages from your employment as a limited company director, and any benefits you received from that employment during the tax year, are reported on the ‘Employment’ page of your Self Assessment tax return.

To find this information in FreeAgent, navigate to the ‘My Money’ tab at the top of the screen and select ‘Payroll’ from the drop-down menu.

Select the relevant tax year from the drop-down menu.

Select the last payroll month in the relevant tax year in the ‘History’ section.

Select ‘View Payslip’ to the right-hand side of your name.

The total gross pay for the tax year, and the tax that was deducted from your salary, will be displayed under the ‘Year to Date’ heading.

If you were in your employment at the end of the tax year (5th April), you’ll also find these figures on your P60 in FreeAgent. However, if you left your employment during the tax year, you’ll find these figures on your P45 in FreeAgent instead.

If you run payroll in FreeAgent, your total gross pay for the tax year and the tax that was deducted from your salary will automatically appear in boxes 1 and 2 on the Employment page of your Self Assessment tax return.

Additional information you may need for your tax return

If the company provided you with any non-cash benefits or reimbursed you for any expenses during this tax year, you’ll need to refer to your P11D form, which would have been created outside of FreeAgent, and manually enter these in boxes 9-16 on the ‘Employment’ page(s) of your tax return. 

If you incurred any expenses while doing your job in this tax year that the company didn’t reimburse you for, you’ll need to manually enter these in boxes 17-20 on the ‘Employment’ page(s) of your tax return. Enter the amounts inclusive of VAT, broken down by category.

Please note that only expenses which haven’t been reimbursed during the tax year need to be reported on your tax return.

Tax adjustments for under or overpaid tax through PAYE

The 'Tax Adjustments' page contains an overview of your tax liability and the National Insurance contributions that you owe. You should use this page to record the details of any tax adjustments that you want to make (e.g. applying for a reduction in your payments on account).

For more information on the 'Tax Adjustments' page of the Self Assessment tax return in FreeAgent, please see this article.