SME Accounting
Small and medium-sized enterprises are very much key drivers of the UK economy, but it’s important they tap into the type of accounting support that will help to guide their ongoing growth and development.
Company tax returns are one of the numerous formal obligations you face as a business. As well as keeping track of profits and weighing up expenses, and before you can know how much corporation tax you need to pay – if any – you must also file your company accounts and tax returns.
Filing your company tax returns, like many matters of business accounting, can easily get confusing and end up causing undue stress. In the hands of an accountant, it’s just another task to take off your hands.
What form do I need to complete for company tax returns?
Filing your company tax return involve completing a form known as the CT600, which has essentially come to serve as a second name for a company tax return.
Filing the CT600 is ideally done online now, and the paper version only exists for filing it in Welsh or if filing online is reasonably undoable. In this case, you also need to file form WT1 to explain why the paper CT600 was used.
This requires you have a government gateway ID and have worked out your business’s taxable profit.
Taxable profit can be calculated by totalling your business’s income, interest, and non-deductible expenses, minus overheads and capital allowances. These are all figures that can be found from, or in the process of preparing, your statutory accounts.
Filling in the CT600 form requires some standard information about your company, but it also requires plenty of calculations and a good knowledge of your finances. These include:
- Turnover and income
- Tax reliefs and reductions
- Losses
- Profits before deductions
- Chargeable gains from assets
Much of this information will be quick and easy to source for SMEs with the information that comes from specialist accounting services. Indeed, many companies seek the help of accountants when preparing their tax returns because it makes the process easier while ensuring work is accurate.
How do I file a business tax return?
Filling out the CT600 requires a lot of information about your company, from the basic details to more in-depth figures from trading. Some of these sections include:
Company information
Your company name and registration number, as well as your 10-digit tax reference number and company type (such as a property management, charity, or insurance company).
Return information
Information to contextualise the tax return itself. This includes the beginning and end dates for the period it concerns, due repayments for this period, and whether you’re sending accounts for the period of the return or a different period of time.
Company tax calculation
This section requires total trading turnover and other financial concerns, as well as net trading profits, loan relationships, and any income from a property business.
Certain entries in this section will not apply depending on the company itself.
Tax reconciliation
This section concerns various types of credits that can be subtracted from taxes. This could be research and development credit; creative tax credit for film, animation, or video game development; or land remediation tax credit for clearing up contaminated land acquired from a third party.
Sole traders and partnerships are not required to fill out company tax returns, but they do need to send self-assessment returns. Micro-entities must still fill out company tax returns, though they can return abridged accounts for ease.
Company tax returns must be completed within 12 months of the end of the respective accounting period. This is normally the same as your financial year, which simplifies things somewhat.
Missing your company tax return deadline – even by a single day – comes with fines that increase the longer you delay. Current fines for late filing are:
- £100 penalty for being one day late
- An additional £100 once you’re three months late
- A further 10% of your estimated corporation tax bill once you’re six months late
- A repeated penalty of 10% of your estimated corporation tax once you’re 12 months late (should you even get to this point!)
For tax returns that come in late three sequential times, the £100 fines will instead be £500 each.
Chartered accountants for your company tax returns
Many businesses seek the help of chartered accountants to help them with company tax returns – Venn Accounts can do just that.
Our bespoke approach to every new client helps us handle business in a way that suits you and your company, being nothing but a good investment.
For more information about accounts, tax returns, and our other services, please contact us today.
