COM1110 - Accounting periods: company accounting periods: status indicators
COTAX holds a ‘status indicator’ for every period recorded on the Accounting Period (AP) record.
The indicators are Live (L), Dormant (D), Exempt (E) and Superseded (S).
Live (L)
‘Live’ means that COTAX regards the period recorded as an accounting period of the company.
COTAX expects one of the following to be recorded on the AP.
- a self assessment.
- a revenue determination.
- the ‘no revenue determination is required’ signal set to ‘Y’
You should give the status live to every AP you enter using function MAPD (Maintain AP Dates) unless a different status is appropriate.
Dormant (D)
‘Dormant’ indicates a period of dormancy. COTAX does not issue notices to deliver a return or payment and return reminders during this period.
Exempt (E)
‘Exempt’ is used by offices dealing with records for charities, certain public bodies, and the non-taxable element of UK-REITs. It means that the company is not regularly required to make returns.
The following are the main features of the way COTAX handles exempt cases:
- it allows you to indicate that a notice to deliver needs to be issued at longer intervals than annually. You may set the interval in function MAPD (Maintain AP Dates) for a period of up to nine years
- the regular automatic updating of the AP record described at COM1080 does not delete an exempt status or affect the interval set for the issue of notices to deliver
- COTAX does not provide any regular review of cases given the exempt status. This is because the cases for which this status was designed are controlled by HMRC Charities, the Public Bodies unit and the UK-REIT unit
Charities, public bodies, and the non-taxable element of UK-REITs are the only class of cases for which exempt treatment is approved.
Do not use exempt status for a dormant company even if you think it unlikely ever to become liable to tax as the National Audit Office would not approve of that treatment.
Superseded (S)
‘Superseded’ means that the period was once regarded as a live AP of the company, but is no longer.
COTAX gives this status to any AP that is displaced by an amendment you make to the AP record in function MAPD (Maintain AP Dates). You cannot enter the status ‘S’.
See: