Your first company accounts, what to do at this stage

What to do at this stage

1. Know your dates. First accounts to Companies House are usually due 21 months after incorporation, then 9 months after each year end.
2. Gather your records. Income, costs, bank statements and any asset purchases for the period.
3. Prepare the accounts. Following accounting standards, with the right disclosures for a small company.
4. File in both places. Accounts to Companies House, and accounts plus a CT600 to HMRC, which must reconcile.
5. Pay the corporation tax. Due 9 months and 1 day after the year end, before the return itself.

Three separate obligations, not one

People talk about "doing the accounts" as if it is a single job. It is three, with three different deadlines, and they are owed to two different bodies.

• Annual accounts to Companies House, due 9 months after your accounting reference date.
• A Company Tax Return, the CT600, to HMRC, due 12 months after the end of your accounting period.
• The Corporation Tax itself, due 9 months and 1 day after the end of the accounting period.

Read that last pair again. The tax is due three months before the return that works it out. That is not a mistake, it is how the system runs, and it is the single most common surprise for a first year company. You need a good enough estimate to pay on time, then the return follows.

Your first accounts are different

The 9 month rule applies from your second set onwards. For your first accounts, which usually cover more than 12 months, the deadline is 21 months from the date of incorporation, or 3 months from the accounting reference date, whichever is later.

Companies House sets your first accounting reference date as the last day of the month in which you incorporated, one year later. So a company incorporated on 12 March 2026 has a first reference date of 31 March 2027, and first accounts due by 12 December 2027.

One thing to watch: an accounting period for Corporation Tax cannot exceed 12 months. If your first accounts cover 13 months, you file two Company Tax Returns for that stretch, one for the first 12 months and one for the remainder.

Late filing penalties, which are automatic

Companies House does not send warnings and does not exercise discretion on a first offence. For a private company:

• Up to 1 month late: £150
• 1 to 3 months: £375
• 3 to 6 months: £750
• More than 6 months: £1,500

And the penalty is doubled if you file late in two successive financial years. HMRC charges its own separate penalties for a late CT600, starting at £100, and interest runs on Corporation Tax paid late. Two sets of penalties for one missed year end is entirely possible.

The confirmation statement is not the accounts

A separate filing, and a surprising number of people conflate the two. It confirms your registered office, directors, shareholders and people with significant control are still correct. It is due within 14 days of the end of each 12 month review period, and the fee went up to £50 for online filing on 1 February 2026, from £34.

Fourteen days is a short window. Diary it from the date of your last statement, not from your year end, because they are usually different dates.

What to have ready

Getting these together before you start turns a painful job into a short one.

• Bank statements for the whole period, every account the company used.
• Sales invoices raised, and purchase invoices and receipts for costs.
• A note of anything you paid personally on the company's behalf.
• Loan or finance agreements, and any asset purchases.
• Payroll records if you ran a payroll, and dividend minutes and vouchers if you took dividends.
• The directors loan account position, which is simply what the company owes you or you owe it.

That last one deserves attention in year one. If the account is overdrawn at the year end and still overdrawn 9 months and 1 day later, the company pays section 455 tax at 35.75% of the balance for loans made on or after 6 April 2026. It is refundable, but the refund is slow.

How long to keep it all

Company records must be kept for 6 years from the end of the financial year they relate to, and longer where an asset will last beyond that, where a transaction spans more than one accounting period, or where a return was filed late or is under enquiry. Failing to keep adequate accounting records carries a penalty of up to £3,000 and, in serious cases, disqualification as a director.

The one habit that makes year two easy

Reconcile the bank monthly. Not quarterly, not at the year end. Twelve short sessions across the year cost less time in total than one long one in month thirteen, and they catch the errors while you can still remember what the payment was for.

Frequently asked questions