What a contractor company has to file
Each year your company sends a Company Tax Return (the CT600) with accounts and a tax computation to HMRC, and files accounts with Companies House.
Separately, every company must file a confirmation statement with Companies House at least once a year — this is not a tax return, but it is easy to forget.
You do not prepare these documents by hand. OneFiler builds the CT600 and the accounts from a few answers and files them for you.
You probably qualify as a micro-entity
Most one-person contractor and consultancy companies are small enough to use the micro-entity regime, which is the simplest form of statutory accounts.
If that applies, your accounts are short and standardised, and there is far less to get wrong. Our micro-entity guide explains the size limits and how to check whether you qualify.
Salary, dividends and expenses
Corporation Tax is charged on your company’s profit. A salary you pay yourself is a deductible expense that reduces that profit; dividends are not — they are paid out of profit after tax.
Genuine business costs are deductible, but some common ones are not, such as client entertaining. Our guide to allowable expenses covers the main traps.
Keep the director’s loan account tidy: money taken out that is not salary, dividend or expense can create an unexpected tax charge.
Your deadlines
Your Corporation Tax is normally payable 9 months and 1 day after your accounting period ends, and the CT600 itself is due 12 months after the period ends.
Your accounts are due at Companies House 9 months after the period ends.
Late filing triggers automatic penalties, so it is worth filing early — especially when a micro-entity return takes only minutes.