davehicks

Hi, wish I had found this forum earlier and finding it very useful with great advise.

We are trying to apply for a spouse Visa for my wife. I am the director of my own company and employed by the company. We have most of the paper work in place for the visa application but have the following concerns and would really appreciate some advice from anyone who has gone through something similar.

I have earned over the £18,600 threshold.

1. I have the company accounts for the year 2014-2015. But appreciate these will now almost be a year out of date as the application will go in start of March. Do you think this will matter?

2. I don't have any monthly pay slips or dividend vouchers for the year 2014-2015, just one Annual PaySlip and one Voucher showing total dividends paid.

3. I paid myself ad-hoc through the year different amounts as of when I was able to.

4. The actual physical amount of money paid out of the business account and into my personal (again over the £18,600) is about a couple of thousand less than that stated in my Tax return, due to how the accounts have been calculated etc from the previous year accounts.

Because I feel the financial side of our application is not clear and straight forward we are looking to take on the services of a immigration solicitor to help us put together an explanation to prove that I meet the financial requirement even though I don't have monthly PaySlips or Dividend Vouchers.

Does the Home Office need such explanations for how the accounts were produced or do they just go off what my accountant has filed with HMRC and as long as the amount of money leaving the Company bank account and into my Personal bank account is over the £18,600, therefore all should be ok?


I would appreciated any help you could give.

thanks
Dave

SanDiegogirl

Don't understand....... you are applying for spouse visa in March 2016 but

a)are going to produce accounts for year 2014 -2015

b) have no payslips or dividend evidence for 2014-2015

c) are not producing 2015-2016 accounts or evidence of payslips or dividends for 2015-2016?

How are you proving you meet the financial requirements for the financial year 2015-2016? The requirements are that you show income for the last full financial year or an average of the past two years.

If it's a case of not having accounts as yet for 2015-2016 then I'd postpone the application until you do.

Have you read the following document re the evidence you need to produce for self employment or directorship:

https://www.gov.uk/government/upload...ugust_2015.pdf

Pulaski

Accounts are produced in arrears, often several months after the accounting period (non-calendar year) end, then used for calculating taxes another one or more years later (it's called the preceding year basis). It could be nearly the end of 2016 before accounts for the accounting year ending, say, 31 December, 2015, are due.

To the OP: going with an experienced solicitor is the wise choice. If you are comfortably above the £18,600 you won't have too much of a problem, but if your income fluctuates a good bit and is below, say, £25,000, you're going to need to be very careful in how you document your income.

davehicks

That's correct, accounts here are produced in arrears, so 2014-2015 currently is the official last accounting year.

So my total income is around £24,00. I have 1 Payslip showing £9,000 as my salary and the rest is paid as Dividends. From my accountant I also have the CT600, P60, Annual tax Return to HRMC and can produce other various account documents to help explain my income.

Moneys paid from my Company bank account into my Personal bank account did fluctuate with most of the funds being paid in towards the end of year 2015.

The explanation the solicitor gave me is that they can liaise with my accountant and between them produce an explanation on my financials. I just feel going it alone and handing in just the CT600, P60 and the Tax return could get our application rejected if it's not crystal clear to the Home Office.

Thanks for your comments and support, very much appreciated.

elonii

You shouldn't have any problems - I submitted as a company director, and I did it without an immigration lawyer. I was probably silly to do that but got away with it. My income was all dividends and retained profits within the business, and the application sailed through no worries.

Good luck

davehicks

Hey thanks for your feedback. Can I ask did you provide monthly dividend vouchers though and did you need to explain on your company and personal bank statements what each payment out and in for each month was for?

thanks

elonii

It was an Australian company, I included the business and personal accounts overview, then highlighted which bits of business and personal bank statements were making up my income figures, and got a covering letter from my accountant confirming my info was correct.

I didn't have to explain each individual transaction, or my payments out for expenses if that's what you are wondering?

It's very confusing doing it as a self employed company director. I can't remember how many times I read the guidelines and came to different conclusions about what I was supposed to be doing, LOL. Immigration lawyer - very sensible idea!!

Shirtback

It sounds to me, but I may be wrong, as if OP may be mixing up guidelines/requirements for employees (I.e. Salaried workers)/self-employed.

https://www.gov.uk/government/upload...ugust_2015.pdf, as already posted by SDG.