Can I do my own accounts for a limited company?

The short answer

You are allowed to prepare and file your own company accounts and tax return. GOV.UK says plainly that you can either get an accountant to prepare and file your Company Tax Return or do it yourself.

What you cannot hand over is the responsibility. GOV.UK says directors can hire other people to manage some of these things day to day, but they are still legally responsible for the company's records, accounts and performance. So the real question is not "am I allowed?" It is "can I do it correctly and on time, every year?"

What "doing your own accounts" covers

People often talk about "the accounts" as one job. For a limited company it is really four separate duties, and each one has its own rules.

• Keeping records all year. Every sale, every cost, what the company owns and what it owes.
• Preparing annual accounts. Full statutory accounts, approved by the directors, sent to Companies House.
• Filing a Company Tax Return. A CT600, a Corporation Tax computation and the accounts, sent to HMRC.
• Paying Corporation Tax. This has its own deadline, earlier than the return.

Many directors who say they "do their own accounts" only do the first part. That is a sensible split, and we come back to it below.

1. Records through the year

A company must keep records of all money received and spent, the assets it owns, debts it owes or is owed, stock at the end of the year and the stocktakes behind that figure, and the goods it buys and sells. Unless it is a retail business, it must also record who it bought from and sold to.

These records must be kept for 6 years from the end of the last financial year they relate to. HMRC can fine a company £3,000 for not keeping them, and a director can be disqualified.

2. Annual accounts for Companies House

After each financial year, the company prepares full statutory accounts. The directors must approve them before they are filed. Smaller companies can send less to Companies House, which we cover in the next section.

3. The Company Tax Return for HMRC

The tax return starts from the profit in the accounts, but it is not the same number. GOV.UK points out that your profit or loss for Corporation Tax can differ from the figure in your annual accounts. Some costs are not allowed for tax, and some allowances are only given in the tax computation. Getting that adjustment right is the part most DIY filers find hardest.

Smaller companies can file simpler accounts

The size of your company decides how much detail you must put on the public record. A company counts as a given size if it meets at least 2 of the 3 tests.

• Micro-entity: turnover of £1 million or less, £500,000 or less on the balance sheet, 10 employees or fewer
• Small company: turnover of £15 million or less, £7.5 million or less on the balance sheet, 50 employees or fewer

A micro-entity can prepare simpler accounts that meet the statutory minimum and send only a balance sheet with less information to Companies House. A small company can choose whether to send its directors' report and profit and loss account. A small company can also usually claim exemption from audit.

Simpler public accounts do not mean simpler tax. HMRC still receives full statutory accounts with the Company Tax Return.

Deadlines and late filing penalties

The deadlines are fixed by your company's financial year end. They do not move because the paperwork is late. See also year end accounts deadlines.

• First accounts to Companies House: usually 21 months after the date the company was registered (sooner if the first accounting period is shortened)
• Later accounts to Companies House: 9 months after the financial year ends
• Corporation Tax payment: usually 9 months and 1 day after the end of the accounting period
• Company Tax Return to HMRC: 12 months after the end of the accounting period

What happens if you are late

Companies House charges a private company an automatic penalty for late accounts:

• Up to 1 month late: £150
• 1 to 3 months late: £375
• 3 to 6 months late: £750
• More than 6 months late: £1,500

The penalty is doubled if the accounts are late 2 years in a row.

HMRC charges separately for a late Company Tax Return. It is £200 at 1 day late and another £200 at 3 months. At 6 months HMRC estimates the tax bill and adds 10% of the unpaid tax, and another 10% at 12 months. If the return is late 3 times in a row, the £200 penalties rise to £1,000 each.

You will need software, not a web form

This is the biggest recent change for people who file their own accounts. HMRC's free online service for filing company accounts and tax returns closed on 31/03/2026. From 1 April 2026, companies file accounts and Company Tax Returns with HMRC using commercial software. Paper returns are only for those with a reasonable excuse or filing in Welsh.

HMRC says to choose software that lets you file a CT600, a Corporation Tax computation and your company accounts. GOV.UK keeps a list of suppliers.

Companies House filing is separate. You still send annual accounts to Companies House as well. GOV.UK says that from 1 April 2028 you must use commercial software to file accounts with Companies House too. So the days of typing figures into a free government form are ending on both sides.

How much Corporation Tax you pay

For the financial year starting 1 April 2026, GOV.UK sets the rates as:

• 19% small profits rate on profits of £50,000 or less
• 25% main rate on profits over £250,000
• Marginal Relief may apply to profits between £50,000 and £250,000

The £50,000 and £250,000 limits are reduced for short accounting periods and if the company has associated companies. Marginal Relief is a calculation, not a flat rate, so it is easy to get wrong by hand. Tax software can work it out, as long as the profit figure feeding it is right.

When doing it yourself can work

DIY is realistic for some companies. It tends to suit you if:

• The company has few transactions, one bank account and no stock
• There are no employees, or payroll is simple and handled elsewhere
• The company is not VAT registered, or VAT is straightforward
• You are comfortable with bookkeeping software and keep it up to date every week
• You have the time to learn the tax adjustments and check them each year

When it usually stops making sense

The work grows quickly once the business does. Signs that DIY is costing you more than it saves include:

• Bank lines sitting unreconciled for weeks or months
• Receipts and invoices you cannot find when you need them
• Stock, assets, loans or a director's loan account to deal with
• VAT returns and payroll adding to the workload
• Deadlines met in a rush, or missed
• Hours spent on books that could be spent earning

A late penalty or a wrong tax figure can cost more than help would have done. And because directors stay legally responsible either way, a mistake in the accounts is still your mistake.

A middle way: get the books done, decide on year end separately

Most of the effort sits in the first duty: keeping records all year. If every bank line is matched to a receipt or invoice as it happens, preparing the year-end accounts becomes a short job rather than a scramble. That holds whether you then file the accounts yourself or pass them to someone else.

That is why many directors split the work. Someone else handles the daily bookkeeping in the company's existing software. The year-end accounts and Company Tax Return are then prepared from clean, complete records, either by the director or by a separately quoted service.

Common mistakes when filing your own accounts

• Treating the accounts profit as the taxable profit without adjustment
• Paying Corporation Tax on the return date, three months late
• Mixing personal and company spending, with no record of the director's loan account
• Forgetting that the first accounts deadline is counted from the registration date
• Assuming the old free HMRC filing service is still there
• Throwing away records before the 6 years are up