One of the most frequently asked questions we receive from overseas customers is whether or not you need to register for Self Assessment as a non-resident UK company owner and director. The short answer is that it depends on which types of income you receive from your limited company.
In this guide, we explain when it is necessary to register for Self Assessment as a non-resident UK company owner and director. We also provide an overview of the registration process and explain how to send a Self Assessment tax return to HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) – the UK tax authority.
This guide is for information purposes only. We cannot stress enough how important it is to seek professional advice from an accountant or tax advisor who has experience dealing with non-UK resident tax issues. The rules are complex and it is easy to get it wrong.
Self Assessment for non-UK resident directors and shareholders
Previously, the official guidance from HMRC stated that all directors of UK companies were required to register for Self Assessment and file a tax return each year. This is no longer the case.
Since January 2019, directors and owners of UK-incorporated companies have no legal obligation to register or file a personal tax return if:
- all of their income from their company is taxed under Pay As You Earn (PAYE), and
- they do not receive any additional untaxed earnings from the company
This means that you do not have to register for Self Assessment as a non-resident UK company owner if you take all of your income from your company as a director’s salary – unless your annual income is over £150,000.
The situation is different if you receive untaxed income arising in the UK. You will be required to register for Self Assessment and complete a tax return if you receive:
- dividends from shares in your company
- any reimbursement of allowable expenses
- a director’s loan
- interest and alternative finance receipts from banks and building societies
However, by completing a Self Assessment tax return (form SA100) and declaring that you are not resident in the UK (form SA109), HMRC will treat these sources of untaxed income as ‘disregarded income’ for UK tax purposes.
The Self Assessment system will make two calculations on your tax return. One will include the disregarded income and the other will exclude it. The lower of the two tax calculations will be your tax liability.
It is then your responsibility to declare your UK-derived untaxed income in your country of residence and pay any tax that you owe to the relevant tax authority there.
Read the following HMRC guidance for more information: Non-residents savings and investment income (Self Assessment helpsheet HS300).
If HMRC asks you to send a tax return
Typically, any director who receives a ‘Notice to complete a tax return’ from HMRC must do so. If you receive a notice but you believe that it has been issued incorrectly, you can ask HMRC to withdraw it. However, HMRC may decline this request and insist that you complete a Self Assessment tax return. If this happens, you must comply.
Register for Self Assessment as a non-resident UK company owner
The registration process for Self Assessment is usually the same for UK residents and non-residents. As a company owner, you can either register online or complete form SA1 and send it to HMRC by post.
Both options are free of charge, but online registration is easier, more secure, and saves you from having to print and post any forms.
You must register by 5 October following the end of the tax year in which you earn the untaxed income. For example, if you receive dividends in the 2024/25 tax year (6 April 2024 to 5 April 2025), the registration deadline is 5 October 2025.
The steps required to register for Self Assessment with HMRC online are as follows:
Step 1 – Set up an account for HMRC online services
Visit HMRC online services, select ‘Sign in’, and then ‘Create sign-in details’ if you are a new user of Government Gateway. You will be asked to:
- provide an email address
- confirm your email address by entering the confirmation code you receive from HMRC
- enter your full name
- create a password
- make a note of the Government Gateway user ID shown on the screen
You will need to use your user ID and password each time you sign in to your HMRC online account. This is your personal tax account, where you can file Self Assessment tax returns, view your personal tax records, and update your details.
Step 2 – Sign in to your new HMRC account
Type the following address into your web browser: online.hmrc.gov.uk/shortforms/form/SA1. Then, sign in to your new personal tax account using your Government Gateway user ID and password.
You will be presented with a form to complete, titled ‘Registering for Self Assessment and getting a tax return’.
Step 3 – Fill in the registration form
Complete the form by entering all of the information that applies to you:
- Title, first name, and surname
- Any previous name you were known by (if applicable) and the date you changed it
- UK National Insurance number, if you have one
- Reason for no National Insurance number, if applicable (for example, ‘French national and non-UK resident’)
- Date of birth
- Your personal Unique Taxpayer Reference (UTR), if you have ever registered for Self Assessment in the past
- Home address
- The date you moved to this address
- Daytime telephone number
- Email address
- Tell HMRC why you need to complete a tax return by checking all of the boxes that apply to you. You will most likely need to select ‘I am a company director’ and ‘I’ve untaxed income which cannot be coded in PAYE’
- The date you received the untaxed income you need to declare to HMRC
- Carefully read the declaration shown at the end of the form and check the box to indicate your agreement
- Enter your full name and the date, then select ‘Next’ on the bottom right-hand side of the screen
Check your details on the summary page shown on the screen. If you spot a mistake, you can select ‘Back’ to change it. Otherwise, click ‘Submit’.
Watch HMRC’s video for a step-by-step guide on how to register for Self Assessment online if you’re not self-employed. To clarify, company directors and shareholders are not classed as self-employed. This term only applies to sole traders and partners in business partnerships.
What happens next?
HMRC will send you a 12-digit activation code (for your new tax account) and your 10-digit Unique Taxpayer Reference. These will arrive separately at your home address, usually within 21 days if you’re abroad.
If you do not receive the code within 21 days, you can check online when to expect your activation code.
You can find your Unique Taxpayer Reference sooner by logging in to your online personal tax account or using the HMRC app. Your UTR will be used to identify you for Self Assessment tax purposes, so you must keep it safe.
Step 4 – Activate Self Assessment
Once you receive the activation code, sign in to your HMRC online account to activate your Self Assessment service. You can then file a Self Assessment tax return after the end of each tax year to declare your untaxed income to HMRC.
How to register by post
If you cannot use the online service to register for Self Assessment, you can choose to register by post instead.
To do so, simply fill in form SA1 (entering the same information as shown above), print it, sign and date the form in the appropriate boxes, and then post it to the following address:
HM Revenue and Customs
NIC&EO
BX9 1AN
The postal form has been designed to be filled in on-screen. You cannot complete it by hand, other than signing and dating it before sending it to HMRC.
Sending a Self Assessment tax return as a non-resident UK company owner
You must send a Self Assessment tax return following the end of any tax year in which you earn untaxed income through your UK limited company. Most people do this online, but you can send a paper tax return by post, if you are unable to file online.
The Self Assessment filing deadline for online tax returns is 31 January. For paper tax returns, the deadline is 3 months earlier on 31 October.
For example, if you need to declare untaxed income earned in the 2024/25 tax year, you must send your Self Assessment tax return to HMRC by:
- 31 October 2025 – if sending by post
- 31 January 2026 – if filing online
To complete a tax return online, you will need to sign in to your personal tax account using your Government Gateway user ID and password.
Once you are in your account, go to the Self Assessment section and select ‘Complete your tax return’. The screen will guide you through the process, with prompts and links explaining more about each section.
When you complete a page, select ‘Save and Continue’ to save your answers and progress to the next page on the return. You can select ‘Back’ at any time if you want to check or change any of your answers.
Below is a brief overview of the steps required to complete your Self Assessment tax return online.
Step 1 – Provide personal details
The first section of the form will ask you to provide your telephone number, email address, date of birth, and marital status. The rest of your personal details should be pre-populated with the information saved in your Self Assessment account, including your:
- full name
- address
- Unique Taxpayer Reference
- National Insurance number (if you have one)
You should check these details carefully to ensure they are correct. If your name or address differs from what appears on the form, you can amend the details in your Self Assessment account. Ideally, you should check that your personal details are up to date in your account before starting your tax return.
Step 2 – Tailor your return
In this section, you will answer ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ to a series of questions across three pages. The purpose of these questions is to ensure that you are only asked to fill in the parts of the return that apply to you.
On page 1 of 3, you will be presented with the following questions about income from employment, self-employment, and certain other sources:
- Were you an employee (or director or office holder) or agency worker in the year to 5 April 20XX?
- Was your turnover more than £1,000 in total from all self-employment?
- Were you in a partnership?
- Did you receive income from UK land and/or property (including income from foreign property) over £1,000?
- If you received any foreign income, do you need to complete the foreign section?
- Did you receive, or do we consider you to have received, income from a trust, settlement or a deceased person’s estate? (This does not include cash lump sums/transfer of assets, otherwise known as capital distributions, received under a will)
- If you disposed of any chargeable assets or had any chargeable gains, or wish to claim an allowable loss or make any other claim or election, do you need to complete the Capital Gains section?
Page 2 of 3 asks the following questions about other types of income, such as income from bank and savings accounts, dividends from shares, and pensions:
- Did you receive any interest – for example, from UK banks, UK building societies, UK unit trusts (or untaxed foreign income) up to £2,000?
- Did you receive any dividends, for example, from UK companies, authorised unit trusts, open-ended investment companies, or foreign companies (up to £2,000)?
- Did you or your partner (if you have one) get Child benefit payments during the year 20XX-20XX?
- Did you receive any other UK income, for example, employment lump sums, share schemes, or life insurance gains?
- Have you made any income tax losses in the year 20XX-20XX? (This refers to losses on taxable income such as casual earnings or commission, not losses from self-employment)
Page 3 of 3 asks questions mainly about tax relief:
- Did you make contributions toward a personal pension or retirement annuity?
- Did you give to charity?
- If you, or your spouse or civil partner, were born before 6 April 1935, do you want to claim Married Couple’s Allowance?
- Do you want to claim other tax reliefs and deductions, such as community investment tax relief, venture capital trust shares or maintenance/alimony payments?
- Have you had any 20XX-20XX Income Tax refunded or offset by HMRC or JobCentre Plus?
- Do you have a tax advisor?
- Have you used one or more tax avoidance schemes?
You may be asked to provide more information if you answer ‘Yes’ to anything across these three pages. For example, if you answer ‘Yes’ to being employed, you will need to state how many employments or directorships you had during the tax year and the name of each employer/company.
If you are unsure about a particular question, click on the ‘Help about’ link underneath the question for more guidance.
Step 3 – Fill in the tax return
The next section you need to complete is ‘Fill in your return’ – the main part of the Self Assessment tax return. It provides an overview of the pages that make up your tailored return based on your answers in the previous ‘Tailor your return’ section.
You will see a blue box with the word ‘ENTERED’ next to the pages you’ve completed. A grey box with the words ‘NOT ENTERED’ will be displayed next to the sections you still have to fill in.
Depending on your situation, you may need to provide details of employment income, UK dividend income and interest received, allowable expenses, and payments to registered pension schemes and/or overseas pension schemes.
For instance, if you pay yourself a director’s salary through your company, you will be asked to complete the ‘Employment (SA102)’ supplementary page to record this income.
You must also fill in the ‘Residence, remittance basis, etc (SA109)’ supplementary page to record your residence status on your tax return and claim personal allowances as a non-UK resident.
Other pages may apply to you – for example, if you receive income from renting out UK property, or if you need to record foreign income or gains.
Your tailored tax return should include all of the extra pages you need. However, you can find the relevant supplementary pages at www.gov.uk/self-assessment-tax-return-forms if it does not.
Step 4 – Check your tax return
When you have completed your tax return, check all the information you’ve entered to ensure everything is correct. If you notice any mistakes or have forgotten to include something, you can go back and amend anything that’s not right.
Step 5 – View your calculation
When filing online, the Self Assessment system automatically determines how much you owe as you add your figures to each section of the return. This means you can view your calculation and estimated tax liability before submitting your return to HMRC.
The calculation may include, where relevant, Income Tax, National Insurance contributions, tax on dividends, and Capital Gains tax due to your reported income.
If you want to see how these figures have been worked out in more detail, select ‘View and print your full calculation’. This will provide you with a breakdown of the calculation, including:
- profit from different sources (e.g. self-employment, dividends, property)
- total income received
- your tax-free Personal Allowance (if applicable)
- total taxable income
- tax and National Insurance due
- whether you owe any ‘payments on account‘ (these are advance payments toward your next tax bill)
- total of any payments due to HMRC, and the payment deadline(s)
The estimated payments will not consider any payments you may have already made toward your tax bill, or any outstanding amounts from previous years, if applicable. You can print a copy of the full tax calculation for your records.
Step 6 – Save and submit your tax return
Before you submit your completed Self Assessment tax return, you can save a copy for your records.
Once you have done this, you are ready to send it to HMRC. For security reasons, you must re-enter your Government Gateway user ID and password to do so.
HMRC will then send you an online message to confirm receipt of your tax return. 72 hours after your submission, you can view your return in your online Self Assessment account.
If you need to amend your tax return after filing, you can usually do so within 12 months of the filing deadline. For example, for the 2024/25 tax year, you should have until 31 January 2027 to make changes.
If you need to send your tax return by post
Whilst most people file their Self Assessment tax returns online, some people need to post them by post. If this applies to you, you must call HMRC to ask for the paper version of the SA100 tax return.
If you live outside the UK, you should send the completed paper tax return to the following address:
HM Revenue and Customs
Benton Park View
Newcastle Upon Tyne
NE98 1ZZ
United Kingdom
You must allow sufficient time for it to reach HMRC by the 31 October deadline. You may receive a late filing penalty if it arrives after this date.
Paying any tax that you owe
If you owe any tax through Self Assessment, you must pay your bill by 31 January following the end of the tax year. This payment deadline is the same as the filing deadline, so it’s easy to remember.
Read HMRC’s guidance on paying your Self Assessment tax bill for more information.
Thanks for reading
We hope this guide has been helpful and provided a little clarity. Unfortunately, the tax rules for non-resident UK company owners and directors are far from simple, so we urge you to speak to an experienced accountant for expert guidance and advice.
HMRC’s guidance can be complex and confusing, and it’s all too easy to make a mistake. If you misinterpret the rules and fail to comply, the penalty regime could present serious issues for you and your company.
Please feel free to comment below if you have any questions about this post. For more limited company guidance, explore the 1st Formations Blog.
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