←Your first year
How we work out every date in the first-year tool, with the GOV.UK page behind each rule.
First-year rules for a UK limited company
Each rule in plain English, with a worked example and its source. We checked them against GOV.UK on 31 October 2026, and if GOV.UK has changed since then, GOV.UK wins.
- What we read from Companies House
- Your first year end
- Counting months
- Confirmation statement
- First accounts at Companies House
- Corporation Tax registration
- Corporation Tax periods
- Paying Corporation Tax
- Company Tax Return (CT600)
- VAT
- PAYE
- Your Self Assessment
- People with significant control
- Identity verification
- Bank account and records
What we read from Companies House
- The tool asks for one thing, your company number or name, and reads the rest from the public Companies House register through its official API.
- From the register we take the day the company was formed, its year end, the date its next accounts are due and the dates of its next confirmation statement. These are the dates Companies House itself holds, so a changed year end is already in them.
- The register does not hold HMRC dates or the day a company started trading, so we work the HMRC dates out from the rules below and assume trading started on the day the company was formed.
- Once a company has filed its first accounts, its first year is behind it, so the tool shows the next set of dates instead.
1. Your first year end (accounting reference date)
- A new company's first year end is the last day of the month in which the first anniversary of incorporation falls.
- Example: incorporated 15 March 2026, first year end 31 March 2027.
- That is why first accounts usually cover a little more than 12 months.
- Accounts can be made up to any date up to 7 days either side of the year end.
- You can change the year end with form AA01, either shortening it or extending it so a period is up to 18 months long.
2. Counting months (Companies Act 2006, section 443)
- Count to the same day number in the later month, so 15 March plus 9 months is 15 December.
- If the start date is the last day of a month, end on the last day of the later month, so 30 April plus 9 months is 31 January.
- If the start is the 29th or 30th and the later month is February, end on the last day of February, so 30 May plus 9 months is 28 February in most years.
Source: Companies Act 2006, section 443
3. Confirmation statement
- Your first statement is made up to the day before the first anniversary of incorporation, so a company incorporated on 15 March 2026 makes it up to 14 March 2027.
- You then have 14 days to file it, which in the example means by 28 March 2027.
- The register agrees: company 17192000, incorporated 30 April 2026, shows a first statement date of 29 April 2027, due by 13 May 2027.
- You can file early, and the fee is £50 online or £110 on paper.
- It confirms your company details are up to date, and it asks for each director's identity verification personal code.
4. First accounts at Companies House
- First accounts covering more than 12 months are due 21 months after incorporation, or 3 months after the year end if that is later.
- With the standard first year end, that is always the 21 month date, so a company incorporated on 15 March 2026 files by 15 December 2027.
- First accounts of 12 months or less, and every later set, are due 9 months after the year end.
- Every company files accounts, even one that has not traded.
- Very small companies can usually file simpler micro-entity accounts. For periods starting on or after 6 April 2025 that means meeting 2 of these 3: turnover up to £1 million, balance sheet up to £500,000, and up to 10 employees.
5. Corporation Tax registration
- Tell HMRC within 3 months of the company becoming active, which means trading, providing services, earning interest or receiving any income. Setting up before trading does not count.
- The first Corporation Tax period starts when the company becomes active.
- The tool assumes that is the day the company was formed, which gives the earliest possible date.
Source: GOV.UK, set up your company for Corporation Tax and GOV.UK, Corporation Tax trading and non-trading
6. Corporation Tax periods
- A Corporation Tax period is never longer than 12 months.
- If your first accounts cover more than 12 months, there are two periods: the first 12 months, then the rest up to the year end. Each has its own tax return and its own payment date.
- Example: active from 15 March 2026 with a year end of 31 March 2027, period 1 runs from 15 March 2026 to 14 March 2027 and period 2 from 15 March 2027 to 31 March 2027.
7. Paying Corporation Tax
- For taxable profits up to £1.5 million, pay 9 months and 1 day after the end of each Corporation Tax period.
- When the period ends on the last day of a month, the payment is due on the 1st of the tenth month after it. A period ending 31 March 2027 is paid by 1 January 2028, and one ending 30 June 2027 by 1 April 2028.
- Otherwise it is the day after the same date 9 months later, so a period ending 14 March 2027 is paid by 15 December 2027.
- Larger companies pay in instalments, which this tool does not cover.
Source: GOV.UK, pay Corporation Tax and HMRC Company Taxation Manual CTM01800
8. Company Tax Return (CT600)
- Your return is due 12 months after the end of the accounts it covers.
- When first accounts run past 12 months and split into two tax periods, both returns are due on the same day, 12 months after the accounts end. In the example above, both are due by 31 March 2028.
- You still file a return if the company made a loss or owes nothing.
Source: GOV.UK, Company Tax Returns and HMRC Company Taxation Manual CTM93030
9. VAT
- You must register if your taxable sales for the last 12 months go over £90,000, or you expect them to go over £90,000 in the next 30 days alone.
- After going over in the last 12 months, register within 30 days of the end of that month, and your registration starts from the first day of the second month after you went over.
- You can also choose to register below the threshold.
Source: GOV.UK, when to register for VAT and GOV.UK, VAT thresholds
10. PAYE (paying salaries)
- Register as an employer with HMRC before your first payday, including when the only person you pay is yourself as director.
- You cannot register more than 2 months before you start paying people.
Source: GOV.UK, register as an employer
11. Your Self Assessment
- Being a director does not on its own mean a tax return. You need one if you have untaxed income such as dividends above your allowances, or if HMRC asks you to send one.
- Register by 5 October after the end of the tax year, which runs from 6 April to 5 April.
- File online and pay by 31 January after the tax year.
- Example: for dividends taken in the 2026 to 2027 tax year, register by 5 October 2027, then file and pay by 31 January 2028.
Source: GOV.UK, who must send a tax return and GOV.UK, Self Assessment deadlines
12. People with significant control (PSC)
- A PSC is anyone who holds more than 25% of the shares or votes, can appoint or remove most of the directors, or has significant influence or control.
- PSC details are given when the company is formed, and changes go to Companies House within 14 days.
13. Identity verification
- Since 18 November 2025 every director and PSC verifies their identity with Companies House. It is free through GOV.UK One Login, by app, online or at a Post Office, or you can go through an authorised agent such as an accountant.
- Verifying gives you a personal code, which new companies give on their application and existing companies give on their next confirmation statement.
Source: GOV.UK, verifying your identity for Companies House and GOV.UK, when you need to verify
14. Bank account and records
- Keep company money separate from your own, and a business bank account is the simplest way to do it.
- Keep records of money in and out, what the company owns and owes, and any stock.
- HMRC want records kept for 6 years from the end of the financial year they relate to, so in practice keep everything for 6 years.
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Get my fixed priceGeneral guidance based on GOV.UK rules, not tax advice: your Companies House page and HMRC letters are the final word on your dates.