Limited companies have a multitude of regulations that they are legally obliged to follow. On top of correctly paying their taxes on time, there are several filing deadlines that they are expected to meet under threat of penalties (and potentially even foreclosure of the business).
Some key filing deadlines are listed below:
Next accounts – This is the date by which your company accounts must be filed at Companies House. The deadline for this is 9 months from the end of your financial year. For example, if your financial year ended on 31st December 2018, the “next accounts” date would be 30th September 2019.
Next confirmation statement – Confirmation statements are an annual statement that must be filed to Companies House. They detail:
– Directors
– Shareholders and share details
– Registered office of the company
– Person(s) with significant control
It is a criminal offense to not file a confirmation statement within 14 days of the end of the “review period”. A review period is the 12 months immediately following the last submission of a confirmation statement.
For example, if a company filed a confirmation statement on 1st January 2019, the end of the review period would be 31st December 2019, making the next confirmation statement due to be submitted no later than 14th January 2020.
Corporation Tax payment – The deadline to pay Corporation Tax coincides with the filing deadline for the year-end accounts. That is to say that payment must be made within 9 months and 1 day of the end of your companies’ financial year end.
Corporation Tax return – It can seem counterintuitive, but the filing deadline for your Corporation Tax return is 12 months from the end of the financial year of your company. However, in order to make your Corporation Tax payment as stated above, you would need to already have your tax calculation done.
VAT returns – Most VAT return periods are on a quarterly basis, though it is possible not to follow this schedule. The filing of a VAT return, as well as payment of any outstanding VAT liability has a deadline of 1 month and 7 days from the end of the VAT return period in question. For example, if a company has a VAT quarter covering 1st January 2019 – 31st March 2019, the deadline for the submission of the return and payment of any liability would be 7th May 2019.
You can sign up for reminders from both Companies House and HMRC to help you stay on top of the above deadlines.
If you have any questions, doubts or concerns, please contact us at Stack & Jones Accountants on 01869 277973 for a free 1-hour consultation.
Sources: gov.uk, startups.co.uk
Image source: unsplash.com
