Corporation Tax is a tax on the taxable profits of limited companies and some organisations including clubs, societies, associations, co-operatives and charities.
Pay before you file
Unlike other taxes such as Income Tax or VAT - where in most cases the filing and payment deadlines are identical - this is not the case with Corporation Tax. The deadline to pay your Corporation Tax is before the deadline to file your Company Tax Return. Generally you must:
Submit your Company Tax Return online and pay electronically
From 1 April 2011, you must submit your Company Tax Return to HMRC online for accounting periods ending after 31 March 2010.
Additionally your tax computations and, with very few exceptions, the accounts that form part of your Company Tax Return, must be submitted in Inline eXtensible Business Reporting Language (iXBRL) format.
Corporation tax rates
Profits | Financial year ending 31 March 2013 | Financial year ending 31 March 2014 | |
Small profits rate | Up to £300,000 | 20% | 20% |
Marginal rate | £300,000 to £1.5m | 25% | 23.75% |
Main rate | Over £1.5m | 24% | 23% |
Annual 1% reductions announced in 2011 Budget were accelerated with another 1% to reach a rate of 20% by 2015/16.
Investment for use in Enterprise Zones, energy saving and environmentally beneficial equipment, new zero-emission goods vehicles, low CO2 emission (up to 95g/km) cars, natural gas/hydrogen refuelling equipment: First year allowance. | 100% |
Annual investment allowance (AIA) – on first £250,000 of investment (excludes cars and other expenditure already qualifying for 100% FYA) | 100%* |
Writing down allowance on expenditure not qualifying for AIA or FYA: | |
Long-life assets, integral features of buildings, cars over 130g/km | 8% |
Other plant and machinery | 18% |
Business premises renovation: max initial allowance | 100% |
* Transitional rules may apply
The annual investement allowance expenditure limit decreased to £25,000 from £100,000 at April 2012. Legislation was introduced in Finance Bill 2013 to increase the maximum amount of the annual investment allowance (AIA) from £25,000 to £250,000 for a temporary period of two years from 1 January 2013.
Chartered Accountants Registered Auditors
Registered as auditors by the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants and regulated
for a range of investment business activities by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland