Your limited company year end should leave you with clean records, enough cash set aside for tax, and a clear calendar for Companies House and HMRC. For a UK founder, the useful work happens before the accounts are filed: tidy the books, spot director-loan or VAT issues early, and leave enough time for questions before any deadline.
What should happen before the company year end?
Start with the records that will drive the accounts. Reconcile the bank, match receipts to spending, check unpaid customer invoices, and make sure supplier bills are in the right period. If you use Stripe, Shopify, PayPal, Amazon, app-store payouts or another platform, reconcile the platform report to the bank instead of relying only on the bank feed.
Then check the founder-specific items:
- salary and payroll submissions
- dividends, board minutes and dividend vouchers
- director's loan account movements
- VAT returns and the VAT control account, if registered
- loans, grants or funding received
- stock, work in progress or deferred revenue where relevant
- equipment purchases and other assets
- expenses paid personally by the founder
For SaaS founders, deferred revenue can matter. For e-commerce founders, stock and platform balances can matter. For service founders, unpaid invoices and work completed before the year end can matter. The aim is a set of accounts that explains the year clearly, rather than a last-minute clean-up.
Which year-end balances deserve a separate check?
The director's loan account deserves its own review. Money taken out of the company that was not salary, a declared dividend, or a reimbursed expense can become a loan from the company to you. If that loan is still unpaid 9 months + 1 day after the year end, the company can face an s455 charge of 35.75%.
Dividends also need care. They should be paid from available company profit after tax, with paperwork to support them. If the profit is not there, the withdrawal can become a director's loan instead.
The tax provision matters too. Your accounts may show a profit before the Corporation Tax is paid. Keep the tax cash separate so the bank balance does not overstate what is safe to spend. Our guide on profit, cash and the tax pot covers that habit in more detail.
Which deadlines come after a limited company year end?
The founder version of year end is a calendar as much as an accounts exercise. These are the dates to map as soon as the year closes:
| Job | Standard timing | Founder focus |
|---|---|---|
| File accounts at Companies House | Private company accounts are due 9 months after the financial year end. First accounts are due 21 months after incorporation. | File early enough to allow for rejection, missing paperwork or approval questions. |
| Pay Corporation Tax | For companies outside quarterly instalment payments, Corporation Tax is due 9 months + 1 day after the accounting period end. | The payment date comes before the Company Tax Return filing date. |
| File the Company Tax Return | The CT600 is due 12 months after the end of the accounting period. The return normally includes the CT600, accounts and tax computations. | The filing package needs proper support; incomplete records can still leave the job unfinished. |
| File the confirmation statement | The review period is 12 months, and the statement can be filed up to 14 days after that period ends. | This is separate from accounts, but it belongs in the same company calendar. |
Companies House treats the filing deadline as the date it receives acceptable accounts, not the date you start trying to file them. Weekends and bank holidays do not extend the deadline. The GOV.UK accounts deadline guidance is the public source for the accounts timing, and GOV.UK also explains Company Tax Returns.
What happens if a filing is late?
Late filing creates cost and stress that the founder gets no benefit from. Private-company accounts penalties start at £150 for accounts up to 1 month late and rise by bands to £1,500 after more than 6 months. If accounts are late in 2 successive financial years, the Companies House penalty is doubled.
HMRC penalties for late Company Tax Returns changed for filing dates on or after 1 April 2026. On the standard scale, a late CT600 starts at £200 and reaches £400 if it is still outstanding more than 3 months after the filing date. Repeat late returns can move onto a higher scale, and tax-geared penalties can apply where Corporation Tax remains unpaid.
The practical fix is unglamorous: close the books early, answer queries quickly, and do not treat the deadline as the target date for starting.
How should the year-end handover work with an accountant?
A good handover is short and complete. If you're not already working with your accountant on a monthly basis, send the bank statements, bookkeeping access, unpaid invoice list, supplier bill list, payroll records, VAT returns, dividend paperwork, director-loan movements, loan agreements, funding documents and any large purchases.
Add a note for anything unusual: a new sales channel, a big contract, a refund dispute, a director expense paid personally, a loan to or from the company, or a new hire. Your accountant can then spend the time on judgement and clean-up, rather than asking for the same missing records in several rounds.
What should happen after the draft accounts are ready?
Use the draft accounts as both a compliance output and a decision point. Check the profit, Corporation Tax, cash position, dividends, director's loan account, VAT position and next year's bookkeeping routine. This is also the time to tidy the calendar for the next year: limited company tax deadlines, director's loan account s455, VAT registration threshold, and first company year end if this is your first cycle.
Frequently asked questions
What is included in a limited company year-end checklist? A useful checklist covers bookkeeping, bank reconciliations, invoices, supplier bills, payroll, dividends, director's loan account, VAT, asset purchases, tax cash and the Companies House/HMRC deadlines after the year end.
When are limited company accounts due? Private company accounts are normally due at Companies House 9 months after the financial year end. First accounts are due 21 months after incorporation.
When is Corporation Tax due after year end? For companies outside quarterly instalment payments, Corporation Tax is due 9 months + 1 day after the accounting period end. The CT600 filing deadline is later: 12 months after the accounting period end.
What happens if Companies House accounts are late? A private company penalty starts at £150 for accounts up to 1 month late and rises by bands to £1,500 after more than 6 months. The penalty doubles if accounts are late in 2 successive financial years.
Should VAT wait until the year-end accounts? VAT should be reconciled during the year if you are registered, because returns and payments run to their own deadlines. Use year end for clean-up and cross-check after the in-year reconciliation.
Work with us
If your year end is close and the records are not where you want them, book a call with Carr Accounting Studio. We will help you get the accounts clean, protect your cash, and keep finance from eating your time.
General information, not advice. UK figures current to 2026/27 — check the latest before you rely on them. Written by David Carr, chartered accountant and founder of Carr Accounting Studio.