Limited Company Accounts: Why do I need to file every year?

What is required?

Once a year your company is required to prepare and submit the following:

• Statutory Accounts – to send to Companies House
• A Company Tax Return – to send to HMRC

What is the purpose?

Your company’s statutory accounts are prepared from your financial records at the end of your financial year.

The intent of the accounts is to provide public disclosure of a company’s operating and financial activities over the past year. The report is typically issued to shareholders and other stakeholders who use it to evaluate the firm’s financial performance and to make investment decisions. It also provides the business owners a summary of the performance of the business as well as working out any Corporation Tax which could be payable.

If your company is small, a micro entity, you might be able to send simpler (‘abridged’) accounts. These will provide minimal information of the company’s figures as opposed to the full set which will includes the full Income Statement.

If your company is dormant, you must still submit Dormant Company accounts to Companies House but nothing is required from HMRC.

Regarding the Corporation Tax, you must still send a return if you make a loss or have no tax to pay.

What needs to be included in Statutory Accounts?

• a Balance Sheet, which shows the value of everything the company owns, owes and is owed on the last day of the financial year
• the Profit and Loss account, which shows the company’s sales, running costs and the profit or loss it has made over the financial year
• notes about the accounts
• a director’s report

Deadlines

If MATCH handles your accounts this is all in hand, otherwise get in touch to see how we can help.