Key points
- Every limited company files two separate sets of year-end reports: accounts at Companies House and a Company Tax Return at HMRC. Filing one does not file the other.
- Accounts are due at Companies House 9 months after the year end. Corporation Tax is payable 9 months and 1 day after it, and the tax return is due within 12 months.
- Accounts are not "just a form". They are built from a full year of bookkeeping, so coming to an accountant a month before the deadline costs you quality and choice.
- Money a director takes outside payroll or properly declared dividends is a loan, and an unpaid loan carries an extra 35.75% tax.
Your deadlines
| What | Where | Deadline |
|---|---|---|
| Annual accounts | Companies House | 9 months after the year end. First accounts: 21 months after the company was formed |
| Corporation Tax payment | HMRC | 9 months and 1 day after the end of the accounting period |
| Company Tax Return (CT600) with accounts | HMRC | 12 months after the end of the accounting period |
| Confirmation statement | Companies House | At least once every 12 months, within 14 days of the review date |
| Payroll reports, if directors or staff are paid a salary | HMRC | On or before every payday |
| Director's own Self Assessment | HMRC | 31 January after the end of the tax year |
Companies House charges £150 if accounts are up to a month late, rising to £1,500 after six months, and doubles the penalty if you are late two years in a row. HMRC charges £200 for a tax return filed late, £400 after three months (amounts doubled from 1 April 2026), and more if the return is very late. Interest runs on unpaid tax from the day after it was due.
Mistake 1
Remembering the accounts a month before the deadline
Nine months pass after the year end, and the director remembers the accounts when one month is left. The first accountant they find has to work through a whole year in a few weeks.
Many people think the accountant "just fills in a form". In reality, every transaction for the 12 months has to be recorded, every document analysed and every invoice checked. Only then can the accounts and the tax return be prepared and signed off. In a few weeks, that work cannot be done properly.
And at that point nothing can be changed. A director's loan cannot be repaid in time, dividends cannot be planned, a pension contribution cannot be made. We can only record what happened.
Mistake 2
Personal spending on the company card
This is the most common mistake we find at the year end. The director pays personal bills with the company card: shopping, holidays, things for the home. These are not company costs.
Depending on how it is treated, the money becomes either pay for the director, with Income Tax and National Insurance reported through payroll, or a loan from the company. If the loan is not repaid within 9 months and 1 day of the year end, the company pays an extra 35.75% on it (33.75% for loans made before 6 April 2026).
Read more in our guide "Who checks small companies anyway?" by Ilona Zaichenko, our Head Accountant.
Mistake 3
"Just take money out of the company. It is the cheapest way"
Some directors were told by previous accountants to simply take money from the company account, without a salary through payroll and without declaring dividends. It sounds cheap. It is not.
Money taken this way is a director's loan. To clear it, it has to become either salary, with payroll reports to HMRC, or dividends, which can only be paid out of profits and must be declared on the director's own Self Assessment return. Either way it is reported and taxed. Left as a loan, it costs the company the extra 35.75% on top.
A director takes £2,000 a month from the company account for the whole year, with no payroll and no dividend paperwork. At the year end the company has a £24,000 director's loan. If it is not cleared in time, the company pays £8,580 of extra tax, and the director still has to pay personal tax when the loan is finally turned into salary or dividends.
There are good, legal ways to pay yourself, usually a mix of a small salary and dividends. The key is that they are planned in advance and reported. Read salary or dividends.
Mistake 4
Changing your year end at Companies House only
A company can change its year end, its accounting reference date, at Companies House, for example to make the first year longer. Some of our clients did this, but HMRC was never told.
The problem: a Corporation Tax period can never be longer than 12 months. If your accounts at Companies House cover 18 months, HMRC needs two tax returns, for 12 months and for 6 months, each with its own deadline. If HMRC still has the old dates, your tax return is rejected, and HMRC expects returns and payments earlier than you think.
When you change the year end, update the accounting period with HMRC too, and check the new deadlines for both.
Mistake 5
Accounts filed at Companies House, but not at HMRC
Because the accounts appear on the public register, the director assumes everything has been filed. But the tax return to HMRC is a separate filing. If it is missing, nothing happens for a year or two, and then a letter arrives.
A case from our practice: a £9,000 bill for a company that made a loss
A client with a car repair business came to us from another accountant, who later closed her practice because of ill health. She filed the accounts at Companies House, but not the tax return at HMRC. She told neither the client nor us when we took over. She had already cancelled her agent access to HMRC, so she could not file it.
We filed the next return, for the work the client came to us for. About eight months later a letter arrived. The company had made a loss in the earlier period, but because no return had been filed, HMRC estimated the profit for that type of business and asked for about £9,000 of tax.
We contacted HMRC, explained the situation and filed the missing return for the earlier period. The estimated tax was cancelled. The client paid only the £200 late-filing penalty: £100 for filing late and another £100 because the return was more than three months late (the rules before April 2026).
The lesson: when you change accountants, ask for proof that both filings were made for every year: the Companies House confirmation and the HMRC submission receipt. We always send both to our clients.
Your deadline calculator
For a private limited company with a 12-month accounting period. First accounts and changed year ends have different dates.
Why bookkeeping comes first
Year-end accounts are only as good as the bookkeeping behind them. If you want to have your accounts prepared once a year, you need complete bookkeeping for the whole year. Without it, the accountant has to do the bookkeeping first, and that is always more expensive.
Once a year can work if
- Your turnover is well below £90,000
- You keep complete records all year
- Your business is simple, with few transactions
You need a monthly accountant if
- Your turnover is £80,000 or more, close to the VAT threshold
- You sell online, employ staff or work in construction
- You want to plan tax, not just pay it
Above about £80,000, a lot can go wrong in a year: missing the VAT threshold, putting costs through that are not allowed, a director's loan building up. Found at the year end, each of these costs extra tax.
What to prepare for your year end
0 of 8 ready
We prepare everything, send it to you to review and approve, and file only after you agree. Then we send you the confirmation from both Companies House and HMRC.
One piece of advice
Do not save on accounting. Everyone should do their own job: if you want to run your business well, you need a good, qualified accountant who knows their field. Even I, as the head of an accounting practice, do not keep my own company's books. Like the shoemaker without shoes, I would always leave them until last. So I have a person for it, on a salary, and I never save on that.
Test yourself
1. Your accounts appear on Companies House. Does that mean HMRC has your tax return?
Companies House and HMRC are separate. The tax return must be filed with HMRC as well.
2. Your year end is 31 March 2026. When is your Corporation Tax due?
Corporation Tax is due 9 months and 1 day after the end of the accounting period. The return itself is due by 31 March 2027.
3. You extended your first year to 18 months at Companies House. How many tax returns does HMRC need?
A Corporation Tax period is never longer than 12 months, so 18 months means two returns.
4. You take money from the company account with no payroll and no dividend paperwork. What is it?
It is a director's loan. It must be repaid or turned into salary or dividends, and both are taxed.
Law and sources
- Companies Act 2006, section 442Deadline for filing accounts at Companies House
- Companies Act 2006, section 392Changing your accounting reference date
- GOV.UK: late filing penalties at Companies House£150 to £1,500, doubled if late two years running
- Corporation Tax Act 2009, section 10A Corporation Tax period can never be longer than 12 months
- Finance Act 1998, Schedule 18Company tax returns, late filing penalties, and HMRC determinations when no return is filed
- GOV.UK: Company Tax ReturnsFiling 12 months after the period ends; tax due 9 months and 1 day after
- Corporation Tax Act 2010, section 455Tax on director's loans not repaid in time
- GOV.UK: paying yourself as a company directorSalary, dividends and director's loans
This guide explains the rules in general terms as at 4 October 2026. It is not advice for your situation. Rules and penalties change.
