For the tax year just ended 5 April 2026, there are now additional self assessment requirements which require directors in close companies to report more detailed information relating to their shareholdings and any dividends received from those companies.
A close company is defined as being a UK limited company controlled by five or fewer participators, therefore these changes will affect the vast majority of small family run companies.
Extra boxes on the employment pages of the self assessment tax return which now need to be completed for each directorship are:
- The name of the close company and registration number
- The amount of dividend income (even if this is zero) received from the company
- The total percentage of the share capital owned in the company
If you complete your own tax return, please ensure you familiarise yourself with these changes and populate all necessary boxes on the employment pages for every directorship you hold.
You are also likely to be affected by these changes even if you don’t currently submit a tax return. In the past, a director who did not receive any untaxed income such as dividends from a close company did not have to complete a self assessment tax return unless they also had other reasons to submit a return.
However, this new legislation appears to suggest that all directors will now need to submit a self assessment tax return for the 2025-26 tax year onwards to report every company in which they are a participator, even if they didn’t receive any income from the company.
Unless HMRC later release guidance to the contrary, at this time we are therefore recommending all directors affected by these changes to submit a self assessment tax return for the tax year just ended 5 April 2026 (2025-26) onwards.
If you are affected by these changes, this means you may need to re-activate or register for self assessment for the first time for the 2025-26 tax year. You must do this by 5 October 2026.
