PAYE registration

[jnoshea]

Hi all,

My wife has a limited company and pays herself a salary below the threshold to trigger either personal or employers national insurance contributions. I was always under the impression that ALL companies needed to register for PAYE but when we rang up to do this, HMRC said that there was no point in doing this until there was someone in the company being paid over the threshold (£7000 for 2011/12 I think). I guess they must be right, but all the guides and books I read for small businesses all assume that the company is PAYE registered, even when they talk about deliberately paying yourself below the threshold to trigger NI. I guess I'd just like some reassurance on this.

Best regards
James

[Tax Champion]

There is no obligation to register for PAYE or make PAYE returns unless payments are actually due, although new companies are sometimes registered automatically.
However if your wife is being paid a basic salary within the nil rate band for NI, she will not get the NI credits without year end returns being filed.

[jnoshea]

Would it better to register anyway then?

[Tax Champion]

Yes, if she wants the NI credits, otherwise no particular advantage.

Just as an aside, if there are any benefits or expenses to be declared, registration will ne required