How do I get a unique taxpayer reference (UTR) for a new company?<\/span><\/a>\n \nAny chargeable gain must be reported to HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) on a Company Tax Return. The amount of tax paid will depend on any allowances and reliefs claimed. Intangible assets (e.g. intellectual property and business reputation) are subject to different rules for the purposes of chargeable gains (see below).<\/p>\n
Working out a chargeable gain<\/h4>\n The chargeable gain normally consists of the difference between the price paid for an asset and the price it was sold for (assuming it has increased in value). Any costs incurred with the purchase or disposal of the asset (e.g. solicitors\u2019 fees, or Stamp Duty in the case of property) can be deducted.<\/p>\n
If an asset was given away free of charge or sold for less than it was worth at the time of sale, its market value at the time of sale should be used to assess any chargeable gains.<\/p>\n
The steps for calculating a chargeable gain are as follows:<\/p>\n
\nWork out the value of the asset when it was sold by your company – this is generally either the amount it was sold for (or the market value at the time if higher)<\/li>\n Work out the value of the asset when it was bought by your company – this is generally either the amount paid (or the market value at the time if higher)<\/li>\n Deduct the value of (2) from (1)<\/li>\n Deduct from (3) any costs incurred by your company in connection with buying, selling or improving the asset (e.g. solicitors\u2019 fees, or Stamp Duty in the case of property)<\/li>\n In respect of any assets owned by your company prior to December 2017, HMRC\u2019s Indexation Allowance December 2017 guide<\/a> can be used to calculate the \u2018inflation factor\u2019. This should be multiplied by the amount paid for the asset, and the total deducted from (4)<\/li>\nThe inflation factor should also be calculated in respect of any improvements made to the asset, and this figure should be deducted from (5)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n Tax rates and allowances for limited company directors<\/span><\/a>\n \nThe resulting figure, once all relevant deductions have been made, is the final chargeable gain.<\/p>\n
It is possible to ask HMRC to check any valuations made in relation to chargeable gains by submitting a \u201cPost transaction valuation checks for Capital Gains\u201d form (CG34)<\/a>.<\/p>\nDeduct any capital losses<\/h4>\n Any capital losses can be deducted from the total chargeable gains, to arrive at an overall final value that needs to be taxed.<\/p>\n
Capital losses can only be deducted from chargeable gains (i.e. they cannot be offset against trading income etc.). Furthermore, any loss claimed must be reduced by any amount which has been claimed as capital allowances<\/a>.<\/p>\nIntangible assets<\/h4>\n Intangible assets are dealt with differently to other assets for the purposes of capital gains. Intangible assets refer to non-physical assets such as intellectual property and goodwill (business reputation). Paragraph 18.2 of FRS (Financial Reporting Standard) 102<\/a> defines an intangible asset as \u201can identifiable non-monetary asset without physical substance.”<\/em><\/p>\n Never miss another confirmation statement deadline<\/span><\/a>\n \nThe method of taxation of chargeable gains from intangible assets depends on when they were first owned by a company. Take a look at\u00a0HMRC’s Capital Gains Manual\u00a0<\/a>for\u00a0full\u00a0guidance on intangible assets in relation to capital gains.<\/p>\nWhat are Corporation Tax reliefs?<\/h3>\n The general costs of running a business should be deducted from the profits before calculating the Corporation Tax payable.<\/p>\n
However, expenses and benefits (e.g. company cars, health insurance, travel and entertainment expenses, childcare) are all treated differently when it comes to reporting them to HMRC and paying tax on them.<\/p>\n
Certain expenses (e.g. costs of client entertainment) are not allowed to be offset against profits for the purposes of calculating Corporation Tax. GOV.UK provides detailed guidance in this A-Z of expenses and benefits for employers<\/a>.<\/p>\nCapital allowances can be claimed when a company purchases assets that are required for business use, such as equipment, machinery, company cars and other vehicles.<\/p>\n
Trading losses<\/a> can be used to claim relief against Corporation Tax, in the same way as losses incurred from the sale or disposal of a capital asset or on property income. Other reliefs that can be claimed include:<\/p>\n\nResearch and Development (R&D) relief<\/a><\/li>\nThe Patent Box<\/a> – for companies that make a profit from patented inventions<\/li>\nReliefs for creative industries<\/a> – for companies that make a profit from films, \u2018high-end\u2019 television, children\u2019s television, animation television, video games, theatrical productions, orchestral concerts, museum or gallery exhibitions etc.<\/li>\nRelief on goodwill etc.<\/a> – this includes intangible assets mentioned above (i.e. as defined by paragraph 18.2 of FRS 102) – e.g. unregistered trademarks<\/li>\nDisincorporation relief<\/a> – reliefs can be claimed on the transfer of assets when a company changes from a private limited company to a sole trader or partnership owned business<\/li>\nTerminal, capital and property income losses<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\nHow do limited companies register for Corporation Tax?<\/h3>\n Limited companies do not receive a bill for Corporation Tax, but they are required to register for Corporation Tax<\/a> within three months of starting to trade.<\/p>\nThey must work out their profit or loss for Corporation Tax (this is different from the profit and loss statement prepared for annual accounts) and the amount that needs to be paid.<\/p>\n
Furthermore, they must pay any Corporation Tax owed<\/a> (or tell HMRC that no payment is due<\/a>) and file a Company Tax Return<\/a> by the relevant deadlines.<\/p>\nHow is Corporation Tax reported and what are the deadlines for payment?<\/h3>\n After the end of each financial year, private limited companies are required to prepare and submit:<\/p>\n
\nfull annual accounts (also known as \u2018statutory accounts\u2019)<\/li>\n a Company Tax Return<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n Preparing annual accounts for your limited company<\/span><\/a>\n \nMost limited companies will be able to use HMRC\u2019s online services<\/a>\u00a0to submit these filings. This will require a Government Gateway user ID and password (these can be created online if registering for the first time).<\/p>\nA Companies House password and authentication code is required for anyone filing accounts with Companies House at the same time.<\/p>\n
There are some limited companies which cannot file online (e.g. those with more than 12 company directors at any one time in the return period, or whose accounts need to be audited) – see GOV.UK<\/a> for more details.<\/p>\nFiling and payment deadlines<\/h4>\n Statutory accounts – the deadline for filing annual accounts<\/a> is normally 9 months after the end of the company\u2019s financial year.<\/p>\nCompany tax return \u2013 the deadline is normally 12 months after the end of the accounting period, but it is possible to\u00a0submit your tax return and accounts at the same time through HMRC’s online filing service.<\/p>\n Dormant Company Accounts Service<\/span><\/a>\n \nCorporation Tax payment \u2013 for companies with taxable profits up to \u00a31.5 million, the payment deadline is normally 9 months and 1 day after the end of the company’s accounting period.<\/p>\n
The accounting period is generally the same 12-month period that is reported in the annual accounts. Large companies with taxable profits over \u00a31.5 million must pay their corporation tax in instalments.<\/p>\n
Note: Dormant companies do not need to file Company Tax Returns\u00a0after <\/strong>they have told HMRC that they are dormant.<\/p>\n"},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Limited companies that make a profit must pay Corporation Tax every year. The tax they pay is based on the figures stated in their Company Tax Returns and annual accounts, which should be submitted to HMRC. What is taxed for the purposes of Corporation Tax? Limited companies are taxed on any profits deriving from: trading…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":7326,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"categories":[1239],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7327","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tax-accounting-finance","category-1239","description-off"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
What tax does a limited company pay?<\/title>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n","yoast_head_json":{"title":"What tax does a limited company pay?","description":"Read our guide to corporation tax, including how to register, what is taxable, tax rates, chargeable gains, tax reliefs and how to file annual tax returns.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.qualitycompanyformations.co.uk\/blog\/what-tax-does-limited-company-pay\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"What tax does a limited company pay?","og_description":"Read our guide to corporation tax, including how to register, what is taxable, tax rates, chargeable gains, tax reliefs and how to file annual tax returns.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.qualitycompanyformations.co.uk\/blog\/what-tax-does-limited-company-pay\/","og_site_name":"Quality Formations Blog","article_published_time":"2020-02-29T18:28:20+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-04-12T15:42:57+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1500,"height":750,"url":"https:\/\/www.qualityformationsblog.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/QCF-Tax.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Nicholas Campion","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Nicholas Campion","Estimated reading time":"7 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.qualitycompanyformations.co.uk\/blog\/what-tax-does-limited-company-pay\/","url":"https:\/\/www.qualitycompanyformations.co.uk\/blog\/what-tax-does-limited-company-pay\/","name":"What tax does a limited company pay?","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.qualitycompanyformations.co.uk\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.qualitycompanyformations.co.uk\/blog\/what-tax-does-limited-company-pay\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.qualitycompanyformations.co.uk\/blog\/what-tax-does-limited-company-pay\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.qualityformationsblog.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/QCF-Tax.jpg","datePublished":"2020-02-29T18:28:20+00:00","dateModified":"2024-04-12T15:42:57+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.qualitycompanyformations.co.uk\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/55c0555d374a517d89f4b8526550af9e"},"description":"Read our guide to corporation tax, including how to register, what is taxable, tax rates, chargeable gains, tax reliefs and how to file annual tax returns.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.qualitycompanyformations.co.uk\/blog\/what-tax-does-limited-company-pay\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.qualitycompanyformations.co.uk\/blog\/what-tax-does-limited-company-pay\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.qualitycompanyformations.co.uk\/blog\/what-tax-does-limited-company-pay\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.qualityformationsblog.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/QCF-Tax.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.qualityformationsblog.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/QCF-Tax.jpg","width":1500,"height":750,"caption":"Hand holding a calculator with \"TAX\" displayed on the screen, with background of paperwork on a desktop."},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.qualitycompanyformations.co.uk\/blog\/what-tax-does-limited-company-pay\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.qualitycompanyformations.co.uk\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"What tax does a limited company pay?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.qualitycompanyformations.co.uk\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.qualitycompanyformations.co.uk\/blog\/","name":"Quality Formations Blog","description":"Company Formation and Company Registration Information and News","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.qualitycompanyformations.co.uk\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.qualitycompanyformations.co.uk\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/55c0555d374a517d89f4b8526550af9e","name":"Nicholas Campion","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.qualitycompanyformations.co.uk\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f9d97f3c5155446fa41f953ae5f16729?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f9d97f3c5155446fa41f953ae5f16729?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Nicholas Campion"},"description":"Nicholas is Director, Company Secretarial at QCF, responsible for completing the company\u2019s statutory filings and ensuring all the company secretarial department is fully trained on company law and company secretarial procedures. Nick is also Company Secretary for the BSQ Group and all subsidiary brands, an accredited industry leader and a Companies Act 2006 specialist.","jobTitle":"Director, Company Secretarial","url":"https:\/\/www.qualitycompanyformations.co.uk\/blog\/author\/ncampion\/"}]}},"views":8174,"x_categories":"Tax, Accounting & Finance","x_tags":"","x_featured_media":"https:\/\/www.qualityformationsblog.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/QCF-Tax-128x128.jpg","x_featured_media_medium":"https:\/\/www.qualityformationsblog.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/QCF-Tax-600x300.jpg","x_featured_media_large":"https:\/\/www.qualityformationsblog.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/QCF-Tax-600x300.jpg","x_featured_media_original":"https:\/\/www.qualityformationsblog.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/QCF-Tax.jpg","x_date":"29 Feb 2020","x_author":"Nicholas Campion","x_gravatar":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f9d97f3c5155446fa41f953ae5f16729?s=96&d=mm&r=g","x_metadata":{"_thumbnail_id":"7326","_dt_sidebar_position":"right","_dt_sidebar_widgetarea_id":"sidebar_1","_dt_sidebar_hide_on_mobile":"0","_dt_footer_show":"1","_dt_footer_widgetarea_id":"sidebar_2","_dt_footer_hide_on_mobile":"0","_dt_header_title":"enabled","_dt_header_background":"normal","_dt_header_background_below_slideshow":"disabled","_dt_header_transparent_bg_color_scheme":"light","_dt_header_transparent_top_bar_bg_color":"#ffffff","_dt_header_transparent_top_bar_bg_opacity":"25","_dt_header_transparent_bg_color":"#000000","_dt_header_transparent_bg_opacity":"50","_dt_header_disabled_background":"normal","_dt_header_disabled_transparent_bg_color_scheme":"light","_dt_header_disabled_transparent_top_bar_bg_color":"#ffffff","_dt_header_disabled_transparent_top_bar_bg_opacity":"25","_dt_header_disabled_transparent_bg_color":"#000000","_dt_header_disabled_transparent_bg_opacity":"50","_dt_page_overrides_top_margin":"","_dt_page_overrides_bottom_margin":"","_dt_post_options_back_button":"0","_dt_post_options_hide_thumbnail":"0","_dt_post_options_related_mode":"same","_dt_post_options_preview":"normal","_yoast_wpseo_content_score":"30","_yoast_wpseo_focuskeywords":"[]","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":"","ampforwp_custom_content_editor":"","ampforwp_custom_content_editor_checkbox":"","ampforwp_amp_on_off":"default","_yoast_wpseo_focuskw_text_input":"tax","_yoast_wpseo_focuskw":"tax","_yoast_wpseo_metadesc":"Read our guide to corporation tax, including how to register, what is taxable, tax rates, chargeable gains, tax reliefs and how to file annual tax returns.","_yoast_wpseo_linkdex":"68","views":"8174","yarpp_meta":{"yarpp_display_for_this_post":0},"_yoast_wpseo_keywordsynonyms":"[\"\"]","_yoast_wpseo_estimated_reading_time_minutes":"7","_ez_toc_disabled":"","_ez_toc_insert":"","_ez_toc_heading_levels":[],"_ez_toc_alttext":"","_ez_toc_exclude":"","_yoast_indexnow_last_ping":"1712936578","_yoast_wpseo_wordproof_timestamp":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qualitycompanyformations.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7327","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qualitycompanyformations.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qualitycompanyformations.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qualitycompanyformations.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qualitycompanyformations.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7327"}],"version-history":[{"count":36,"href":"https:\/\/www.qualitycompanyformations.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7327\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12112,"href":"https:\/\/www.qualitycompanyformations.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7327\/revisions\/12112"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qualitycompanyformations.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7326"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qualitycompanyformations.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7327"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qualitycompanyformations.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7327"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qualitycompanyformations.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7327"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}