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When you set up your limited company, you automatically get different reporting dates for the first:

• annual accounts you send to Companies House
• Company Tax Return you send to HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC)

You may also have to send (‘file’) 2 tax returns to cover your first year in business.

Annual accounts

Your first accounts usually cover more than 12 months. This is because they:

• start on the day your company was set up (‘incorporated’)
• end on the ‘accounting reference date’ that Companies House sets for the end of your company’s financial year - this is the last day of the month your company was set up

Example

Company Tax Return

The period covered by your tax return (your ‘accounting period’ for Corporation Tax) cannot be longer than 12 months. So you may have to file 2 tax returns to cover the period of your first accounts. If you do, you’ll also have 2 payment deadlines.

In following years you then normally only file one tax return - and it will usually cover the same financial year as your accounts.

What you must do

The dates of your first tax return - and whether you file 2 or one - depend on whether your company:

• started trading on the same day it was set up
• did not start trading until after it was set up

File 2 Company Tax Returns if your company started trading on the same day it was set up - one for your company’s first 12 months and one for the rest of the time covered by your company’s first accounts.

Example

Prepare your first set of accounts for 11 May 2024 to 31 May 2025. Then file your:

• first tax return for 11 May 2024 to 10 May 2025
• second tax return for 11 to 31 May 2025

After you do this, your accounts and tax returns will normally cover your company’s financial year from 1 June to 31 May.

Limited companies can be ‘dormant’ for Corporation Tax between setting up (‘incorporating’) and starting to trade for the first time.

You tell HMRC the date that you started to trade when you add Corporation Tax services to your business tax account.

What you have to do if your company was dormant depends on whether you added Corporation Tax services to your business tax account before your accounting reference date.

You added Corporation Tax services to your business tax account before your accounting reference date

You usually:

• do not file a tax return for the period you were dormant
• prepare your first tax return to cover the period you were trading

Example

Prepare accounts for 11 May 2024 to 31 May 2025. Then file one tax return for your trading period from 22 July 2024 to 31 May 2025.

After you do this, your dates for accounts and tax returns will normally match your company’s financial year from 1 June to 31 May every year.

You did not add Corporation Tax services to your business tax account before your accounting reference date

You must file 2 tax returns - one for the period you were dormant and one for the period you were trading.

Example:

Prepare one set of accounts for 11 May 2024 to 31 May 2025. Then file your:

• first tax return for your dormant period from 11 May to 21 July 2024
• second tax return for your trading period from 22 July 2024 to 31 May 2025

After you do this, your dates for accounts and tax returns will normally match your company’s financial year from 1 June to 31 May every year.