Corporation tax is a tax charged on the profits earned by the businesses during a taxable period. So, if your business is liable for corporation tax, keeping adequate and accurate records is very essential to complete your company tax return.

Here is a list of accounting and company records that you need to maintain.

What are the Corporation Tax Records You Need to Keep?

Company records

  • Details of directors, shareholders, company secretaries
  • Results of any shareholder votes and resolutions
  • Details of promises for the company for repaying loans at specific date in the future and who they must be paid back to
  • Details of promises the company makes for payments if something happens and it’s the company’s fault
  • Information about transactions when someone buys shares in the company
  • Loans and mortgages secured against the company’s assets

Accounting records

  • Money spent and received by the company
  • Details of assets owned by the company
  • Details about the debts owed by the company
  • Company’s stocks owned at the end of the financial year
  • The stocktakings used to work out the stock figure
  • Sold and bought goods
  • Details of who you bought the goods from and sold them to

Apart from these records, keeping other financial records, information, and calculations are also important for completing company tax returns.

All theses records must be kept for at least 6 years from the end of the last financial year of your company. However, you need to keep them longer than that if they show a transaction covering more than one of the company’s accounting periods and the company has bought equipment or machinery that lasts more than 6 years.

If you have sent your company tax return late and HMRC has started a compliance check, then also you are required to keep records longer than 6 years. In case if you lose your records, inform your corporation tax office immediately.

By maintaining such records, complete your tax returns will be easier for you. Even if you don’t want to this by yourself and want professional accountants to do it, having records will help them to complete returns easily.