Limited company year-end checklist (without an accountant)

In short: After a limited company's year end you close the books, file accounts at Companies House within 9 months, pay Corporation Tax within 9 months and 1 day, and file the Company Tax Return (CT600) within 12 months (GOV.UK: Accounts and tax returns for private limited companies). For a 31 March 2026 year end, those dates are 31 December 2026, 1 January 2027 and 31 March 2027.

For other year ends, the Corporation Tax deadline calculator works out the dates, or you can take the 30-second check to see whether Taxley fits your company.

What are the deadlines for a 31 March 2026 year end?

A company with a 31 March 2026 year end that is past its first accounts must file accounts at Companies House by 31 December 2026, pay Corporation Tax by 1 January 2027 and file its CT600 by 31 March 2027 (GOV.UK: Accounts and tax returns for private limited companies). The director's personal deadlines follow the tax year to 5 April instead.

Worked calendar: 31 March 2026 year end, not the first accounts (worked out on 26 September 2026 from the GOV.UK rules linked in this guide)

The Corporation Tax date is New Year's Day, so unless you pay by Faster Payments the money must reach HMRC by the last working day before it, Thursday 31 December 2026 (GOV.UK: Pay your Corporation Tax bill: Overview). The same rule applies to Self Assessment: 31 January 2027 is a Sunday, so a payment made any other way must reach HMRC by Friday 29 January 2027 (GOV.UK: Pay your Self Assessment tax bill: Overview). Companies House deadlines don't move when they fall on a Sunday or bank holiday (GOV.UK: Preparing and filing Companies House accounts). The P11D dates follow the 2025–26 tax year, so a company that provided benefits and missed 6 July 2026 should report them now.

First accounts are different: they are due 21 months after the company registered, and a first period longer than 12 months needs two Company Tax Returns (GOV.UK: Your limited company's first accounts and Company Tax Return), as the first accounts guide explains. For any other year end, the deadline calculator gives all three company dates.

How do you complete the year end yourself, step by step?

Ten steps take a director from the last day of the financial year to the last filing, in the order the work is done. The 3-hour estimate assumes the bookkeeping was kept up to date during the year; recording a whole year of transactions from scratch takes far longer. GOV.UK lists the records every company must keep (GOV.UK: Company and accounting records: your responsibilities).

Step 1: Reconcile every bank account to the year-end statement

Export each business bank statement to the year end, match every line to the bookkeeping, and confirm that the closing balance in the books equals the bank's. Do the same for any business credit card or loan account, and explain every unmatched item before moving on. GOV.UK says company records must cover all money received and spent (GOV.UK: Company and accounting records: your responsibilities).

Step 2: Record unpaid sales and purchase invoices

List sales invoices for work done by the year end that customers hadn't paid (debtors) and suppliers' invoices for the year's costs still unpaid (creditors). Small company accounts count the year's income and charges "without regard to the date of receipt or payment" (SI 2008/409, Sch 1 para 14). The unpaid invoices guide works through an example.

Step 3: Post accruals, prepayments, depreciation and stock

Accrue costs of the year not invoiced by the year end, such as the last month's electricity, and treat anything paid in advance for next year as a prepayment. Charge depreciation under the company's usual policy and count any stock. Depreciation reduces accounting profit only: HMRC says it "is not allowed as a deduction" and gives capital allowances instead (HMRC manual CA20006).

Step 4: Check the director's loan account and the dividends

Work out what each director owed the company, or was owed by it, at the year end, because a balance owed to the company goes on a CT600A with the return (GOV.UK: Director's loans: If you owe your company money). Then check that the year's dividends were covered by profits available for distribution, as section 830 of the Companies Act 2006 requires (legislation.gov.uk: CA 2006 s.830).

Step 5: Prepare the accounts and have the board approve them

Choose micro-entity accounts under FRS 105 if the company meets at least 2 of the micro-entity limits, or small-company accounts under FRS 102 Section 1A (GOV.UK: Micro-entity, small and dormant company accounts); the FRS 105 or FRS 102 guide compares them. The board approves the accounts and a director signs the balance sheet, with the micro-entity or small companies statement above the signature (CA 2006 s414).

Step 6: Work out the Corporation Tax

Start from profit before tax, add back what tax law disallows, such as depreciation, and deduct capital allowances and losses brought forward. Tax the result at 19% on profits of £50,000 or less and 25% above £250,000, with marginal relief in between (GOV.UK: Corporation Tax rates, expenses and reliefs: Rates); both limits shrink for associated companies or a short period (GOV.UK: Marginal Relief for Corporation Tax). The accounting profit to taxable profit example shows each adjustment.

Step 7: File the accounts with Companies House

File the approved accounts within 9 months of the year end: by 31 December 2026 for a 31 March 2026 year end. Online filing needs the company's authentication code, which Companies House posts to the registered office and which can take up to 10 working days to arrive (GOV.UK: Company authentication codes for online filing), so find it early. A micro-entity can send Companies House only its balance sheet (GOV.UK: Micro-entity, small and dormant company accounts).

Step 8: File the CT600 with iXBRL accounts and computation

File the CT600 within 12 months of the year end: by 31 March 2027 for a 31 March 2026 year end. HMRC's own filing service closed on 31 March 2026, so the return goes through commercial software (GOV.UK: Closure of HMRC's file-your-accounts-and-tax-return service), with the accounts and computation in iXBRL (GOV.UK: Businesses XBRL guide). Filing alongside the Companies House accounts keeps one set of figures, and the CT600 filing guide walks through the return.

Step 9: Pay the Corporation Tax

Pay within 9 months and 1 day of the year end, quoting the 17-character payment reference for that accounting period (GOV.UK: Pay your Corporation Tax bill by bank transfer). For a 31 March 2026 year end that is 1 January 2027, a bank holiday, so pay by 31 December 2026 unless you use Faster Payments. Section 455 tax on an unpaid director's loan is due the same day (CTA 2010 s455). The payment guide lists methods and bank details.

Step 10: Check every filing was accepted and the tax has arrived

Check that Companies House accepted the accounts, that HMRC acknowledged the CT600 without errors, and that the payment shows against the right accounting period in the company's HMRC online account, which should update within a few days (GOV.UK: Check your Corporation Tax payment has been received). The after-filing checklist lists what to save with the year's records.

What should you check in the director's loan account and dividends?

Check two things before the accounts are signed: the director's loan balance at the year end, which decides whether the return needs a CT600A and whether section 455 tax is due, and whether each dividend paid in the year was covered by distributable profits and properly documented (GOV.UK: Taking money out of a limited company).

For a 31 March 2026 year end, a director who owed the company money at the year end and repays it by 31 December 2026 avoids section 455 tax, though the CT600A still shows the balance (GOV.UK: Director's loans: If you owe your company money). A balance still owed after that costs the company 33.75% of the amount outstanding, due on 1 January 2027; loans made from 6 April 2026, which belong on next year's return, carry 35.75% (HMRC manual CTM61505). The CT600A explainer covers the bed-and-breakfasting rules and the refund, and the CT600A walkthrough covers each field.

A dividend is lawful only out of profits available for distribution: accumulated realised profits less accumulated realised losses (CA 2006 s830). GOV.UK says each dividend needs a directors' meeting with minutes, even for a sole director, and a voucher showing the date, company name, shareholders' names and amount (GOV.UK: Taking money out of a limited company). GOV.UK's guidance for directors says a dividend paid without enough profits will usually be treated as a director's loan that must be repaid (GOV.UK: Director information hub: Dividends), so if the profit and loss reserve turns negative after the year's dividends, have the figures reviewed. The retained earnings guide shows how dividends move reserves.

What are the Companies House late-filing penalties in 2026?

Companies House charges a private company £150 for accounts up to 1 month late, rising to £375, £750 and then £1,500 for accounts more than 6 months late, and it doubles the penalty when accounts are late 2 years in a row (GOV.UK: Penalties for late filing of annual accounts). HMRC charges its own, separate penalties for a late CT600.

Companies House late-filing penalties for a private company (GOV.UK, checked on 26 September 2026)

HMRC's penalties for a late Company Tax Return run from the 12-month deadline: £200 at 1 day late and another £200 at 3 months, then 10% of the tax still unpaid if the return is 6 months late (18 months after the accounting period ends), rising to 20% if it is 12 months late (2 years after the period ends), with £1,000 instead of £200 if the return is late 3 times in a row (GOV.UK: Company Tax Returns: Penalties for late filing). Late-paid Corporation Tax also carries interest from the day after the payment deadline (GOV.UK: Corporation Tax: interest charges). The late CT600 guide covers appeals.

Which other filings follow the company's year end?

Three more duties sit around the year end: the confirmation statement, due within 14 days of the end of each 12-month review period (GOV.UK: Confirmation statement: your responsibilities); the director's own Self Assessment return, if needed, due online by 31 January; and P11D forms for any benefits, due by 6 July.

The confirmation statement's review period runs from incorporation or the last statement, not from the year end, and GOV.UK allows up to 14 days after it ends, for £50 online or £110 on paper (GOV.UK: Confirmation statement: your responsibilities). Since 18 November 2025 directors must verify their identity with Companies House, and a company can't file its confirmation statement until all its directors are verified (GOV.UK: Verifying your identity for Companies House). The guide to the three company filings explains how it differs from the accounts and the CT600.

A director needs a personal Self Assessment return only when HMRC asks for one or their own income requires one: GOV.UK's list of who must send a return does not include being a company director on its own, but untaxed income such as dividends can mean one is needed (GOV.UK: Self Assessment tax returns: Who must send a tax return). For 2025–26, anyone new to Self Assessment, or who didn't need a return for 2024–25, must tell HMRC by 5 October 2026, and an online return and the tax are due by 31 January 2027 (GOV.UK: Self Assessment tax returns: Deadlines).

P11D forms report benefits in kind for the tax year, not the company's year: for 2025–26 they were due by 6 July 2026, with Class 1A National Insurance paid electronically by 22 July 2026 (GOV.UK: Expenses and benefits for employers: Deadlines). A director-shareholder who owed the company more than £10,000 at any time in the year has a loan the company must treat as a benefit in kind (GOV.UK: Director's loans: If you owe your company money), so the loan account check also shows whether a P11D is needed.

Keep records for 6 years from the end of the financial year they relate to (GOV.UK: Company and accounting records: your responsibilities). For Corporation Tax the 6 years run from the end of the accounting period, and longer while HMRC can still enquire into the return (FA 1998 Sch 18 para 21). For a 31 March 2026 year end, that means at least until 31 March 2032.

How does Taxley handle the year-end accounts and CT600?

Taxley is UK online software that files a company's year-end accounts with Companies House and its CT600 with HMRC from one set of figures, building the accounts and tax computation in iXBRL.

Taxley starts from finished books, so steps 1 to 3 happen in your bookkeeping. You enter the year's figures or import a trial balance, and on a first Taxley return last year's balance sheet can come from the accounts filed at Companies House. Before you pay for a filing, readiness checks catch figures that HMRC's business rules would reject. The CT600 is filed with the company's own Government Gateway login, used only for that submission, and Taxley doesn't keep the password; the accounts with its Companies House authentication code, and the company pays HMRC itself.

An accountant is still worth paying when the books are months behind, when HMRC has opened an enquiry, when a dividend or loan question needs judgement, or when the company claims consortium relief, group relief with companies outside the UK, R&D relief or another relief Taxley doesn't file yet; the do I need an accountant page lists those limits. Otherwise, take the 30-second check to see whether Taxley fits your company, and see Taxley's pricing.

Frequently asked questions

What is a company's year end?

It is the last day of the company's financial year, its accounting reference date, which Companies House sets when the company is formed. Form AA01 changes it: the year can be shortened as often as needed but usually extended only once every 5 years, to no more than 18 months.

Can I do my limited company's year end without an accountant?

Yes. GOV.UK says you can either get an accountant to prepare and file your Company Tax Return or do it yourself. Directors stay legally responsible for the company's records and accounts either way, even when an accountant does the work.

What documents do I need for year-end accounts?

Bank and credit card statements to the year end, sales and purchase invoices, loan statements, a list of equipment bought or sold, a stock count if there is stock, payroll records, dividend minutes and vouchers, and last year's filed accounts for the comparative figures.

Can I file the accounts and CT600 at the same time?

Yes. GOV.UK says a private company that does not need an auditor may be able to file both together, using software that sends each one. The deadlines still differ: accounts are due at Companies House 9 months after the year end, the CT600 12 months after.