Micro-entity accounts and Corporation Tax
Being a micro-entity makes your Companies House accounts simpler. It doesn’t change your Corporation Tax: you still file a CT600 with accounts and a tax computation, pay at the same rates and meet the same deadlines. The main difference is that HMRC sees more of your accounts than the public does.
- A micro-entity meets any 2 of: turnover of £1 million or less, £500,000 or less on its balance sheet, 10 employees or fewer.
- At Companies House it can send just a balance sheet, with less information.
- It must still send statutory accounts to HMRC as part of its Company Tax Return.
- The Corporation Tax rates, the CT600 and the deadlines are the same as for any other company.
A4O Accounts prepares the CT600 from your books and files it with HMRC. See the CT600 software, or get started free.
What “micro-entity” changes, and what it doesn’t
| Micro-entity | |
|---|---|
| Accounts at Companies House | Simpler. Only the balance sheet, with less information |
| Accounts to HMRC | Statutory accounts, sent with the Company Tax Return |
| CT600 and tax computation | The same as any company |
| Corporation Tax rates | The same as any company |
| Deadlines | The same as any company |
“Micro-entity” is a size band for accounts. Tax has no micro-entity regime.
Is your company a micro-entity?
GOV.UK says your company is a micro-entity if it has any 2 of:
- a turnover of £1 million or less
- £500,000 or less on its balance sheet
- 10 employees or fewer
Those limits apply to accounting periods beginning on or after 6 April 2025. See filing your company accounts with Companies House for the small and medium bands.
What goes to Companies House
A micro-entity can prepare simpler accounts that meet the statutory minimum, and send only its balance sheet, with less information, to Companies House. Its profit and loss account stays off the public record.
That is due to change. From April 2028, Companies House plans to require small companies and micro-entities to file their profit and loss accounts as well, with the option to keep that information off the public register, and all accounts will have to be filed through software. See the April 2028 change.
What goes to HMRC
GOV.UK is explicit that a micro-entity must still send statutory accounts to its members and to HMRC as part of its Company Tax Return. So HMRC gets the accounts with the profit and loss account, even though the public record shows only the balance sheet.
The return is the usual three parts:
- the CT600, with any supplementary pages
- the accounts, in iXBRL
- a tax computation, in iXBRL
More in what needs to go with a CT600 and what is iXBRL.
The tax is worked out the same way
The computation starts from the profit in the accounts, adds back costs that aren’t allowed for tax and takes off capital allowances, whatever the size of the company.
The rates depend on profit, not on the accounts size band:
| Taxable profit | Rate |
|---|---|
| £50,000 or less | 19% (small profits rate) |
| Between £50,000 and £250,000 | 25%, less Marginal Relief |
| Over £250,000 | 25% (main rate) |
The £50,000 and £250,000 limits are reduced for short accounting periods, and where your company has associated companies.
Many micro-entities are owner-managed, so one supplementary page comes up often: CT600A, if a director owes the company money at the year end.
The deadlines
| What | When |
|---|---|
| Accounts to Companies House (private company) | 9 months after the financial year end |
| Pay Corporation Tax | 9 months and 1 day after the end of the accounting period |
| Company Tax Return to HMRC | 12 months after the end of the accounting period |
See Corporation Tax deadlines.
If you used HMRC’s free service
Many micro-entities filed both their accounts and their return through HMRC’s free online service. It closed on 31 March 2026, so the return now goes through commercial software. See what to do now it has closed.
Micro-entity filings in software
A4O Accounts prepares micro-entity accounts under FRS 105 from your books. The accounts for Companies House and the accounts sent to HMRC with the CT600 come from the same figures, each tagged in iXBRL and sent as its own filing. See CT600 software and Companies House filing software.
More in this series: all the CT600 guides.
File your accounts and Company Tax Return from one set of books
A4O Accounts prepares your accounts and CT600 from the same figures, tags them in iXBRL and files them with Companies House and HMRC. Free to get started, no card required.
Get started freeSources
- GOV.UK — Accounts for micro-entities, small and dormant companies
- GOV.UK — Company Tax Returns
- GOV.UK — Corporation Tax rates and allowances
- GOV.UK — Companies House to bring in changes to accounts filing from April 2028
This guide is general information, not tax or legal advice. Rules change, so check GOV.UK or ask an accountant about your company’s situation.