Corporation tax returns

Yes. Our limited company accounts packages at £299 and £449 include the computation, the CT600 and filing with HMRC. The standalone fees on this page are for companies whose accounts are prepared elsewhere or where the return needs separate work such as a capital allowances review.

Profits up to £50,000 are taxed at the 19% small profits rate. Profits above £250,000 pay the 25% main rate. Between the two, marginal relief produces an effective rate rising from 19% towards 25%, with a marginal rate of 26.5% on each pound in the band. The thresholds are divided by the number of associated companies plus one.

Tax is due nine months and one day after the end of the accounting period; the CT600 is due twelve months after it. Companies with profits over £1.5 million pay by instalments instead. Interest runs on late payment from the due date, and a late return attracts a £100 penalty rising to 10% of the tax at twelve months.

Capital allowances are the tax equivalent of depreciation. The annual investment allowance gives 100% relief on up to £1 million of qualifying plant and machinery a year; full expensing gives 100% on new main-rate assets without limit; cars and integral features go into pools at 18% or 6%. The £299 package reviews every asset purchase in the year.

A trading loss can be set against the company's other profits of the same year, carried back one year for a repayment of tax already paid, or carried forward against future profits. The right choice depends on cash flow and expected profits. We model the options and make the claim on the return.

Companies under common control count as associated, and the £50,000 and £250,000 thresholds are divided between them. A director who owns two companies has thresholds of £25,000 and £125,000 for each. Missing this is a common error that produces an underpayment and interest.

Yes. Salary, employer National Insurance and employer pension contributions are deductible expenses that reduce taxable profit. Dividends are paid from profit after tax and are not deductible. This asymmetry is central to the salary-versus-dividend planning we do for directors.

Business entertainment of customers, most fines and penalties, depreciation (replaced by capital allowances), general provisions, and the private element of mixed-use costs. Legal fees on capital items are also disallowed. The computation adds these back to accounting profit and we list every adjustment so you can see the effect.

HMRC requires the accounts and computation attached to a CT600 to be tagged in iXBRL, a machine-readable format. We produce and validate the tagged files as part of the service. If another firm prepared your accounts we tag their figures; you never deal with it directly.

The £279 rescue fee gets it prepared and filed quickly from your accounts. The £100 late penalty is fixed, rising to £200 after three months and then to tax-geared penalties at six and twelve months, so speed matters. If there is a reasonable excuse we draft the appeal as part of the fee.

Yes. Research and development relief is claimed on the CT600 and reduces the tax or generates a credit. Since the merged scheme, first-time claimants must notify HMRC within six months of the period end. Our R&D service prepares the technical report and the computation; the claim then goes on the return we file.

Yes. As your authorised agent we receive and respond to HMRC correspondence. Routine queries about a return we filed are handled at no extra charge. A formal enquiry is handled through our HMRC investigation service at fixed fees per stage, so you know the cost before deciding how to proceed.