Deadlines for a new UK company in its first year

At incorporation

People with significant control

The application to form the company includes the details of its people with significant control. A person with significant control is broadly anyone who holds more than 25% of the shares or voting rights, can appoint or remove a majority of the directors, or can influence or control the company. After incorporation, any change, such as a new shareholder going above 25% or a founder falling to 25% or below, is reported to Companies House within 14 days of the company confirming it.

Identity verification

Directors verify their identity before the company is formed, because the application asks for each director's Companies House personal code. Verification is free through GOV.UK One Login, or can be done through an authorised corporate service provider such as an accountant, which may charge for it. A person with significant control can give their code when they are first added to the register, or within 14 days of being added. Our post on identity verification for founders covers the steps.

Companies House deadlines in the first two years

The first confirmation statement

The confirmation statement confirms that the information Companies House holds about the company is up to date. The first review period ends 12 months after incorporation, and the statement can be filed up to 14 days after that. The fee is £50 online or £110 on paper. Companies House will not accept the statement until every director has verified their identity. Dormant companies file one too.

The first accounts

Companies House sets a new company's first accounting reference date as the last day of the month in which the first anniversary of incorporation falls. The first accounts therefore usually cover a little more than 12 months. A private company's first accounts covering more than 12 months are due 21 months after the date of incorporation, or three months after the accounting reference date if that is later. Every later set of accounts is due nine months after the year end.

Companies House charges an automatic penalty when a private company's accounts are late:

• up to one month late: £150
• one to three months late: £375
• three to six months late: £750
• more than six months late: £1,500

Our guide to Companies House duties for new companies covers the other filings, such as changes of director and registered office.

Corporation tax deadlines

Registering for corporation tax

A company that has been formed but is not yet doing business is usually treated as dormant for corporation tax. Starting to do business includes buying, selling, advertising, renting a property and employing someone. Once that happens, the company's first accounting period for corporation tax begins, and HMRC must be told within three months of the start of that period, by adding Corporation Tax services to the company's business tax account.

Accounting periods

An accounting period for corporation tax cannot be longer than 12 months. If the company started doing business on the day it was formed and its first accounts cover more than 12 months, it files two corporation tax returns for them, one for the first 12 months and one for the rest, each with its own payment date. If it started doing business later, the accounting period begins on that date, and if the period from then to the year end is 12 months or less, one return covers it.

Paying the tax and filing the return

Corporation tax is due nine months and one day after the end of each accounting period. Companies with taxable profits above £1.5 million pay in instalments instead. The company tax return, the CT600, is due 12 months after the end of the accounting period it covers, and a return is filed even when the company made a loss.

HMRC charges £200 when a return is one day late and a further £200 at three months. At six months HMRC estimates the tax bill and adds a penalty of 10% of the unpaid tax, with a further 10% at 12 months. If a return is late three times in a row, the £200 penalties become £1,000 each. Our guide to corporation tax for startups covers the rates and reliefs.

VAT

A company must register for VAT if its taxable turnover for the last 12 months goes over £90,000. The test is run at the end of every month on the previous 12 months. Registration is due within 30 days of the end of the month in which turnover went over, and takes effect from the first day of the second month after it went over. A company must also register if it expects its taxable turnover to go over £90,000 in the next 30 days alone, in which case registration takes effect from the date it realised.

A company can register before it reaches the threshold, which many startups do so that they can reclaim VAT on their costs. Once registered, it files returns under Making Tax Digital, usually every three months. Each return and its payment are due one calendar month and seven days after the end of the VAT period. Our VAT guide covers the schemes and the first return.

PAYE and automatic enrolment

Registering as an employer

The company registers with HMRC as an employer before its first payday, including when the only person it pays is a director. It cannot register more than two months before it starts paying people. A full payment submission is sent to HMRC on or before each payday, and the tax and National Insurance deducted are paid by the 22nd of the next tax month, or the 19th if paying by cheque through the post. Tax months run from the 6th of one month to the 5th of the next.

Workplace pension duties

Automatic enrolment duties start on the day the first member of staff starts work, which The Pensions Regulator calls the duties start date. On that date the company assesses its staff, and anyone aged from 22 to State Pension age earning more than £10,000 a year, which is £833 a month or £192 a week, is put into a workplace pension scheme. Assessment can be postponed for up to three months if staff are told in writing. The company writes to its staff within six weeks of the duties start date, and files its declaration of compliance with The Pensions Regulator within five months of it. Our post on your first hire and payroll covers contributions and the other steps.

The directors' Self Assessment

A director who needs to file a Self Assessment return, for example to report dividends, files it online by 31 January after the end of the tax year. Someone filing for the first time tells HMRC by 5 October after the end of the tax year. The 2025/26 return is due by 31 January 2027, and the 2026/27 return by 31 January 2028.

Worked example of a first-year calendar

An illustrative company, Example Labs Ltd, is formed on 14 January 2026 by two founders who are its directors and its people with significant control. It starts doing business on 1 March 2026, when it signs up its first paying customer. Its first employee starts on 1 June 2026, paid monthly on the last working day, so the first payday is 30 June 2026. Its taxable turnover for the previous 12 months first goes over £90,000 at the end of September 2026.

1. 14 January 2026. The company is incorporated. Both directors have verified their identity and given their personal codes in the application, and the two founders are recorded as people with significant control.
2. By 1 June 2026. HMRC is told that the company started doing business on 1 March 2026, within three months of the start of its first accounting period for corporation tax.
3. Between 30 April and 29 June 2026. The company registers as an employer, before the first payday and no more than two months ahead of it.
4. 1 June 2026. The first employee starts, and the company's automatic enrolment duties start the same day.
5. 30 June 2026. The first full payment submission is sent on or before the first payday.
6. 13 July 2026. Last day to write to staff about automatic enrolment, six weeks after the duties start date.
7. 22 July 2026. The tax and National Insurance from the June payroll are due to HMRC, by the 22nd of the next tax month.
8. 30 October 2026. Last day to register for VAT, 30 days after the end of September, the month turnover went over £90,000. Registration takes effect from 1 November 2026.
9. Before the start of November 2026. Declaration of compliance filed with The Pensions Regulator, within five months of 1 June 2026.
10. 27 January 2027. Last day to file the first confirmation statement, 14 days after the first review period ends on 13 January 2027.
11. 31 January 2027. The company's first accounting reference date and the end of its first financial year, which runs from 14 January 2026. Its first accounting period for corporation tax runs from 1 March 2026 to 31 January 2027, 11 months, so one return covers it.
12. 7 March 2027. If HMRC sets VAT quarters ending in January, April, July and October, the first return covers 1 November 2026 to 31 January 2027, and the return and payment are due one month and seven days later.
13. 14 October 2027. First accounts due at Companies House. Twenty-one months after incorporation is 14 October 2027, and three months after the accounting reference date is 30 April 2027, so the later date applies.
14. 1 November 2027. Corporation tax for the period ending 31 January 2027 is due, nine months and one day after the period ends.
15. 31 January 2028. The CT600 for the period ending 31 January 2027 is due, 12 months after the period ends. The directors' 2026/27 Self Assessment returns are due the same day if they need to file.

The dates are for this illustrative company. Your own dates depend on your incorporation date, when you start to do business and when each event happens.

Keeping track of the dates

Buzz OS, our system for your deadlines, documents, tax estimate and VAT approvals, holds each of your company's dates, and your named accountant files each return before it is due. Accounting and tax for a limited company starts at £49 a month + VAT, with payroll charged on top. Our guide to what a startup accountant costs sets out every fee, and the instant quote gives your monthly figure.

Related reading

• What Companies House expects from a new company
• What to do at your company's first year end
• Setting up in the UK as an overseas startup
• Making your first hire: what payroll involves