How limited company accounting works is one of those things most new directors wish someone had explained to them before they incorporated. It is more involved than sole trader accounting, but once you understand the shape of it, it stops being quite so daunting.

What Limited Company Accounting Actually Involves

When you run a limited company, you are not just tracking income and expenses for a tax return. You are running a separate legal entity, and that entity has its own obligations to HMRC and to Companies House. Those are two different bodies, with different deadlines, different filing requirements and different consequences if you miss them.

The core things you will need to deal with are: statutory accounts (a formal set of financial statements), a Corporation Tax return filed with HMRC using form CT600, a Confirmation Statement filed with Companies House each year, and potentially VAT returns and payroll if those apply to your company. Companies House requires all companies to file annual accounts, including dormant companies, so there is no getting around it even if the company did not trade that year.

The Filing Deadlines You Need to Know

Deadlines are where a lot of new directors come unstuck, because the accounts deadline and the Corporation Tax deadline are not the same date. Private limited companies have 9 months after their accounting reference date to submit accounts to Companies House. Your Corporation Tax return, however, must be filed with HMRC within 12 months of your company’s accounting period end, and the tax itself is usually due 9 months and one day after that same date.

Missing either deadline brings automatic penalties. Companies House penalties for late accounts start at £150 for accounts up to one month late and rise steeply from there. HMRC charges interest on late tax payments and can open enquiries into returns it finds suspicious. The good news is that these deadlines are fixed and predictable, so with a bit of forward planning they are entirely manageable.

What Is Changing in the Rules (And Why It Matters Now)

Two significant sets of changes are coming to limited company accounting, and if you are running a company right now, both are worth being aware of. The first affects how income and leases are reported. From 1 January 2026, new UK accounting standards change how companies recognise revenue and account for leases. Most leases will need to appear on the balance sheet as an asset and a liability, and revenue from contracts may be spread differently across financial years. This can affect your reported profit, your tax bill and potentially any loan covenants your company has.

The second change affects how you actually file. From 1 April 2028, all companies must file accounts digitally using commercial software in iXBRL format. Paper filing and the current web-based filing route at Companies House will close. Small companies will also lose the option to file abridged accounts, though they will be able to opt out of making their profit and loss account public. These are not last-minute considerations. If your accountant or your current software is not set up for this, it is worth checking now.

Can You Do Limited Company Accounting Yourself?

Technically, yes. There is no legal requirement to hire an accountant for a limited company. But I would be honest with you: it is a different level of complexity from self assessment or sole trader accounts. You are preparing statutory accounts to a specific format, filing a Corporation Tax return that requires knowledge of allowable expenses and reliefs, and keeping on top of multiple deadlines with different regulators.

Cloud accounting software like QuickBooks, FreeAgent or Xero can genuinely help with the day-to-day bookkeeping side. Where most directors find they need support is at year-end, when everything needs to come together into a set of accounts that meets Companies House requirements and a CT600 that accurately reflects what you owe. Getting that wrong costs more to fix than it would have cost to do properly from the start.