It can certainly be difficult  completing and filing your first set of accounts if you haven’t done it before. The bit with companies House is straight forward as their are validation checks to help you help you along the the way but you still need to know and appreciate the difference between revenue expenditure and capital expenditure otherwise you might end up in a muddle when you come to filing with HMRC.

The very first time you set up your limited company, you’ll automatically have different reporting dates for:

• your company’s accounts for Companies House
• Company Tax Returns for HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC)

After the end of your company’s first year, your reporting dates will normally align when you send 2 Company Tax Returns to HMRC.

You’ll then be able to:

• put together one set of statutory accounts each year
• send your company’s accounts and Company Tax Returns in one transaction

Why you get different reporting dates

Companies House gives your company an ‘accounting reference date’ – this is when they expect your company’s year end to be.

It’s the last calendar day of the month your company was set up (incorporated) – eg if your company was set up on 12 May, its first accounting reference date will be 31 May the following year. So your company’s first accounts for Companies House will often be for a period of longer than 12 months.

For your Company Tax Return and Corporation Tax, your company has an ‘accounting period’ which:

• begins when your company starts business activities.
• usually ends on your company’s accounting reference date

Your company’s accounting period for Corporation Tax can’t be longer than 12 months.