Michael Grazebrook

PS - one thing which makes this confusing is that, for companies house, you file using your personal login. An odd design decision from HMRC.

I have the same email for both business and personal. I found the interaction around this confusing - it took me literally days to work out the answer and, as this post's HMRC response indicates, even HMRC gets it wrong. They responded to my post on this topic by stating "Unfortunately, your post has been declined as it is too detailed and/or specific to your individual circumstances, or requires interpretation of the guidance provided on GOV.UK. " and deleting my post. That response is catagorically false on all points (except perhaps length because after I'd explained the problem, I gave feedback on how to reproduce it so devs like me could fix it). The problem is (1) that the documentation isn't clear that you need the second account and (2) that when you try to apply for the permission to pay corporation tax, instead of a helpful message you get dumped on a profoundly unhelpful page for starting a new company. (I wondered if it would be destructive to attempt this if the company was already decades old!) That users can step in where HMRC fails shows the usefulness of this forum.