Year-end accounts, tax returns & compliance
Year-end, without the year-end panic.
Statutory accounts, corporation tax, self-assessment and P11Ds — prepared from books we already know are right.
Year-end is only painful when it starts from a mess. When the bookkeeping has been done properly all year, the accounts are close to a formality — no frantic January, no list of forty queries in March, no nasty surprise on the tax bill. We keep the books, we run the payroll, and we take the same numbers all the way through to the filings at Companies House and HMRC. One team, one Xero file, one set of figures.
Bookkeeping And Year-End, Under One Roof
For years the pattern has been the same: we keep the books and run the payroll all year, then everything gets handed to a separate accountant at year-end. That handover is where the time and the money go — re-explaining the business, answering queries on transactions we coded twelve months ago, and waiting on a set of accounts that arrives long after the numbers stopped being useful.
We have closed that gap. Because we already know your file, your suppliers, your tracking categories and your payroll, we go from trial balance to filed accounts and tax return without the archaeology. And what comes out of the year-end feeds straight back into how we run your bookkeeping the following year.
If you already have an accountant you are happy with, that is fine too. Plenty of our clients keep theirs, and we simply hand over a clean, reconciled file and the schedules to go with it.
WHAT WE CAN HELP WITH
What We Handle At Year-End
Year-end accounts
Statutory accounts prepared straight from your Xero file — trial balance review, accruals and prepayments, fixed assets and depreciation, stock, and director loan accounts tidied and explained. Filed at Companies House in the right format for your company size.
Corporation tax and the CT600
Your company tax return prepared alongside the accounts: capital allowances, disallowable costs, losses carried back or forward, and the reliefs that actually apply to you. Filed with HMRC in iXBRL, with a plain-English note of what is payable and when.
Self-assessment tax returns
Directors, sole traders, partners and landlords. Employment income, dividends, rental profits, capital gains, pension and gift aid relief — pulled together, checked against the company position and filed well before January, not during it.
P11Ds and benefits in kind
Company cars and fuel, private medical, interest-free loans, and the rest. We prepare the P11Ds and the P11D(b), work out the Class 1A National Insurance, and tell your people what is about to land on their tax code. Where payrolling the benefit makes more sense, we set that up instead.
Companies House filings
Confirmation statements, registered office and officer changes, PSC updates, share allotments and the small structural jobs that get forgotten until a penalty letter turns up.
Sole traders, partnerships and MTD for Income Tax
Sole trader accounts and partnership returns, plus the quarterly updates now required under Making Tax Digital for Income Tax. If you are being pulled into MTD, we will tell you when — and have the record-keeping ready before the first quarter lands.
Your Compliance Year, Mapped
Every business has the same handful of dates. Missing one costs money for no good reason, so we put them in a calendar for you and we do the chasing.
What | When |
Annual accounts to Companies House | 9 months after your financial year end (21 months after incorporation for a first set) |
Corporation tax payment | 9 months and 1 day after your accounting period end |
Company tax return (CT600) to HMRC | 12 months after your accounting period end |
Confirmation statement | Once every 12 months, filed within 14 days of your review period ending |
P11D and P11D(b) to HMRC, and copies to employees | 6 July after the tax year end |
Class 1A National Insurance payment | 22 July (19 July if you pay by post) |
Register for self-assessment | 5 October after the tax year you need to report |
Paper self-assessment return | 31 October |
Online self-assessment return and balancing payment | 31 January |
Second payment on account | 31 July |
Two Changes Worth Knowing About
Making Tax Digital for Income Tax
Quarterly digital reporting started on 6 April 2026 for sole traders and landlords with qualifying income over £50,000. The threshold drops to £30,000 from April 2027 and £20,000 from April 2028. If that is you, self-assessment stops being one return a year — and the record-keeping has to be right from the first quarter, not tidied up the following January.
Payrolling benefits in kind
From 6 April 2027 employers will have to report most benefits in kind through payroll rather than on P11Ds, with employment-related loans and living accommodation following later. Because we run your payroll as well, moving you across is a change of process, not a change of provider.
How it works
1. We agree your year-end timetable at the start of the year, not the end of it
2. The books stay clean month by month, so there is no catch-up exercise to do
3. We prepare draft accounts and the tax computation, and talk you through them properly
4. You approve, and we file at Companies House and HMRC
5. You get the tax due, the payment dates and a short list of things to do differently next year
What You Get
Bookkeeping, payroll and year-end from one team, working on one Xero file
Draft accounts you see and understand before anything is filed
Your tax liability and payment dates confirmed in good time — not days before
A documented compliance calendar with every deadline on it, and someone chasing it
Fixed fees agreed up front, so there is no year-end invoice you did not expect
17 years of Xero behind the numbers the accounts are built from
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Accounting & Tax FAQs
Here are some of the most common questions we are asked about our accounting and tax services. If you have something more specific in mind, feel free to get in touch and we will be happy to help.
Do we have to move our bookkeeping to you as well?
No. It works best when we do both, because the year-end is then almost done before it starts — but we are happy to prepare accounts and returns from a file someone else maintains.
Can you take over from our current accountant?
Yes. We write to them for professional clearance and handover, collect the previous accounts and computations, and take it from there. It is a routine process and you do not need to have an awkward conversation.
When do you need our information?
For a limited company we aim to have draft accounts with you within a couple of months of your year end, well ahead of the nine and twelve month deadlines. For self-assessment we want everything by the end of September so nothing is being filed in the last week of January.
Do you do personal tax returns for directors?
Yes — and we prefer to, because the company position and the director position need to agree. Salary, dividends, benefits and loan accounts all have to line up.
Do you handle audits?
No. We are not auditors. If your company needs a statutory audit we will tell you early and introduce you to a firm that does them, then work alongside them.
HOW TO GET IN TOUCH
Need Your Year-End Handled Properly?
If your year-end is a scramble every year, or you are tired of paying twice for the same numbers to be looked at, this is the conversation to have. We will tell you what we would take on, what it would cost and what it would change — with no obligation.
