corporate taxation

[jamesmichael]

when do I need to pay my taxes under CT600. My first year of trading ends in February 2009 and I have an annual return and then I presume its submitting annual accounts to companies house. I also wanted to know what the percentage of corporation tax i would pay against my turnover/profits? Any help would be greatly received.

[Maypole]

Congratulations on making a profit. Isnt your accountant doing this for you?

I think its still 40% on your retained profit (not turnover) and you get about 8 months to pay.

Sorry for vagueness, do you carry out any R&D? ARe you aware of R&D tax credits which could reduce your liability.

[jamesmichael]

Many thanks for your reply. I have yet to appoint an accountant. When I say profit I mean the money left over each month after paying other service providers that work for me. Im a one man band Project Management consultant and so I have very little overhead working from home. No r&d im afraid.

[buildersmate]

Several points to correct here.
Your CT600 return must be made within 12 months of the end of your accounting period (AP)
However your tax due must be paid a maximum of 9 months after the end of the AP. This means that if you haven't drawn accounts up by this time, the tax is paid on reasonable estimates and then corrected in later years.
In most cases there is no reason why a small business can't complete the return well before 9 months is up.

All of the above applies to coroporation tax and HMRC. Don't confuse this with the requirements of Companies House. The 'annual return' to them is nothing to do with money - it is an annual statement of who the directors are. Also you do have to lodge some financial statements with them - but nothing like the data required on the CT600 form. Remember that the Companies House info becomes public info - your dealings with HMRC is private between your company and HMRC and is designed to ensure the business pays the right amount of tax.
The small business tax rate is 20% (shortly to rise to 21% unless the Chancellor reverses an announced statement) if the annual profits is less than �300k. It is assessed against profits - not turnover.

[Skyline D]

buildersmate is pretty much spot on other than that the small companies tax rate is already 21%. It changed in April 2008. A company with a year end of the end of February 2009 would pay tax at a rate staggered to include the approriate number of days at each rate. In rpactice this will be nearly 21% since 11/12 of the year are that.

I'm fairly astonished that anyone incidentally has got to the lengths of setting up a limited company without employing the services of an accountant already. There are any number of reasons why incorporation may not have been the best way to go about the business in question. Even if it is the best way, talkign it over with an accountant before you actually do something would have been advisable I think.