When are company accounts due? Every limited company deadline, explained

Find your company’s dates

Every company’s own dates are on the Companies House register. Look your company up in the checker below, or type in a year end to see every date that follows from it. Nothing you enter is saved.

The four deadlines in one table

Two things catch directors out. The tax is due before the return: payment falls 3 months before the CT600 deadline, so in practice you work out the tax when you prepare the accounts. And the CT600 deadline only applies once HMRC has sent the company a “notice to deliver a Company Tax Return”, although a company must still file one if it makes a loss or has no tax to pay⁴. Companies with taxable profits over £1.5 million pay in instalments instead³. A community interest company has the same deadlines, and sends a CIC34 report with its accounts.

A worked example: a year ending 31 March 2026

Every date below is worked out with the same deadline rules Fileyear files with.

The accounts and the tax payment fall a day apart, in the holiday week. 1 January 2027 is New Year’s Day, a bank holiday in England and Wales¹³. When a Corporation Tax deadline falls on a weekend or bank holiday, HMRC needs the payment by the last working day before it, unless you pay by Faster Payments through online or telephone banking³. So for this company, a Bacs payment or a Direct Debit has to reach HMRC by Thursday 31 December 2026. A Faster Payment usually reaches HMRC the same or the next day, including at weekends and on bank holidays³.

Your first accounts

A company’s first accounting reference date is the last day of the month in which the first anniversary of its incorporation falls². So its first accounts usually cover a little more than a year: a company set up on 12 June 2025 has its first year end on 30 June 2026.

When a first period runs over 12 months, the accounts are due 21 months after incorporation (9 months after the first anniversary), or 3 months after the period ends if that is later¹.

Corporation Tax works differently. An accounting period for Corporation Tax can never be longer than 12 months, so a first set of accounts that covers more than a year is split into two accounting periods, with two CT600s and two payment dates^7,8. For the same company, set up and trading from 12 June 2025:

This assumes the company started trading on the day it was set up. If it did not, the dates of its first tax return depend on when it started to trade, and HMRC sends a letter giving the accounting period dates once Corporation Tax is added to the company’s business tax account^7,8.

Changing your year end

You can move your company’s year end (its accounting reference date) for the current financial year or the one immediately before it¹⁰:

• Shortening is allowed as often as you like, by as little as a day¹⁰.
• Lengthening is allowed up to 18 months, and only once every 5 years, unless the company is in administration, is aligning dates with a parent or subsidiary, or has special permission from Companies House¹⁰.
• You cannot change the year end while the accounts are overdue¹⁰.

Changing the year end changes the accounts deadline, unless you are lengthening the first financial year. If the new deadline has already passed when you make the change, a late filing penalty is due¹⁰. The change also usually changes the company’s accounting period for Corporation Tax, so tell HMRC the new dates^10,8. From April 2028, the rules will also reduce how many times a company can shorten its accounting reference period¹⁴.

Can you get more time?

Only for the accounts, only before the deadline, and only for an event outside your control. Companies House gives the examples of an unexpected illness, or a fire destroying company records a few days before the deadline¹¹. You apply online with your company number and the reason. File by the original deadline if you can, rather than wait for a decision, because a refused application still leaves the original deadline in place¹¹. The law caps the filing period at 12 months after the end of the accounting reference period, so an extension can never go beyond that^1,11.

HMRC’s dates are set by the accounting period, not by Companies House’s deadline^3,4, so more time for the accounts does not move the Corporation Tax payment or the CT600.

If you’re late

Companies House charges an automatic penalty on late accounts, by how late they are¹²:

The penalty is doubled if the accounts were also late the year before¹². An appeal has to show the circumstances were out of your control. Companies House lists reasons that usually fail, including that these were your first accounts, that the company is dormant, that it was your accountant’s fault, or that you didn’t know when or how to file¹².

HMRC’s penalties for a late CT600 are separate. For a return due on or after 1 April 2026, they are £200 on the first day it is late and another £200 at 3 months, or £1,000 each if the return was late three times in a row^6,5. At 6 months HMRC estimates the tax and adds 10% of the unpaid tax, and another 10% at 12 months⁵. A company that doesn’t send its accounts or confirmation statement can also be fined and struck off the register¹².

Getting reminders

Companies House can email you when your confirmation statement is due⁹. To have every date in one place, find your company below: its Fileyear page lists what is due and can email you before each deadline.