Year-end accounts: what to send, when, and why early saves money
Year-end does not have to be a scramble in month eight. The companies that find it painless treat the first month after the year-end as the month the accounts get done, and arrive with the same short list every year.
The deadlines that follow a year-end
For a private limited company, accounts must reach Companies House within nine months of the year-end. Corporation Tax is due nine months and one day after it, and the Company Tax Return within twelve months. Notice the order: the tax is payable before the return is strictly due, so a company that leaves the accounts late is estimating its tax bill in the dark.
The checklist
- Bank, credit card and loan statements covering the year-end date, for every account
- Any sales or purchase invoices not yet in the software, especially those dated in the last fortnight
- A stock count at the year-end, if you hold stock
- Details of equipment, vehicles or property bought or sold during the year, with the paperwork
- New loans, hire purchase or finance agreements
- Expenses you paid personally that the company has not reimbursed
- Dividend minutes and vouchers for the year
- Grants or other unusual income received
- Payroll year-end reports, if payroll is run elsewhere
- Anything owed to or by the company at the year-end that is not an invoice: deposits, accrued costs, prepaid insurance
If your bookkeeping is kept current in cloud software through the year, most of this is already there and the list shrinks to the last three or four items.
The questions you will be asked
Expect to be asked about large or unusual transactions, round-sum payments to yourself, balances that have sat unchanged for a year, and anything paid to a related party. These are not accusations; they are the questions that stop a figure being misclassified and keep the director's loan account straight.
Why the first month matters
Accounts done early give you eight months' notice of the Corporation Tax bill, time to plan dividends and pension contributions while the numbers are fresh, and a clear view of how the new year has started. They also cost less: records that are complete and recent are quicker to work with than records reconstructed from memory in month eight. Early is cheaper in fees and in tax.
This note is general guidance. We prepare year-end accounts and Corporation Tax returns for owner-managed companies, usually on top of our own bookkeeping, which is what makes the first month realistic. Get in touch.
Published 7 October 2026.