Year-End Accounts & Corporation Tax Hub
Year-end accounts and Corporation Tax for UK limited companies. Deadlines, CT600 basics, what you can claim, and how to avoid penalties.
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CT600
Year-end deadlines and how to complete and file your CT600 company tax return.
6 articles
Allowable deductions
What your company can deduct from profit before Corporation Tax.
2 articles
Directors
What directors need to know about the company's tax obligations.
1 articles
Penalties
Late filing and late payment penalties for limited companies.
2 articles
The company year-end, assembled
Every limited company runs the same annual machine: statutory accounts to Companies House nine months after year end, Corporation Tax paid nine months and one day after the period end, and the CT600 filed at twelve months. The tax is due before the return — the ordering that catches new directors.
The guides here cover the deductions that legitimately reduce the bill, how directors pay themselves (salary, dividends, pensions, and the director's loan account), and the penalty scales on both the HMRC and Companies House sides.
Year end as a planning window, not a filing scramble
Most Corporation Tax planning only works before the year closes: pension contributions, timing capital purchases against first-year allowances, bonuses provided and paid within nine months, dividends matched to reserves. After year end, the numbers are history and the options are gone.
That is why our company clients' accounts are prepared from reconciled monthly records early in the nine-month window, with the Annual Compliance Review held before year end — while the decisions are still decisions.
Frequently asked questions
When is Corporation Tax due?
Nine months and one day after the end of the accounting period — before the CT600 filing deadline at twelve months. Accounts to Companies House are due at nine months. First-year companies run on different dates: first accounts 21 months after incorporation.
What can my company claim against Corporation Tax?
Costs wholly and exclusively for the trade — salaries, pensions, rent, software, professional fees — plus capital allowances on equipment. Client entertaining and fines are blocked. The deductions guide covers the lines directors get wrong.
How should I pay myself from my company?
Usually a deliberate mix: modest salary, dividends against real reserves with the paperwork done, and employer pension where cash allows. The directors guide explains each route and the director's loan account rules around them.
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