Skip to content
LokalMatch
Get quotes

Corporate Tax Accountants

Corporate Tax Accountants: directory of firms

Corporation Tax looks simple from the outside and is not. A company's taxable profit is not its accounting profit: depreciation is added back, capital allowances are claimed instead, certain expenses are disallowed, losses are carried in prescribed ways, and reliefs have their own notification and evidence requirements. A corporate tax accountant builds the bridge between the statutory accounts and the return that HMRC receives.

Browse corporate tax accountants by city, and see what to check before you hire.

Find corporate tax accountants by city

This kind of work is often limited to licensed or registered professionals. Ask for their licence or registration number before you share any details.

Directory only

LokalMatch doesn’t take requests for corporate tax accountants in the UK and doesn’t pass your details to anyone. Firms are listed as a directory: compare them and contact the ones you choose directly. LokalMatch doesn’t recommend any firm.

Paid listings and paid requests aren’t switched on for this service in the UK.

On this page

The rate itself depends on how much the company earns and on how many associated companies it has. The main rate is 25% for profits over £250,000 and a small profits rate of 19% applies where profits are £50,000 or less, with Marginal Relief in between. Both limits are reduced proportionately for short accounting periods and divided by the total number of associated companies, which catches groups and common ownership arrangements more often than people expect.

This work is not about finding clever schemes. It is about claiming what the company is entitled to, on time, with the documentation to support it if HMRC asks, and about not getting caught out by a deadline that falls at a different point from the Companies House one.

The Corporation Tax cycle for a UK limited company

  • Close the accounting period and prepare statutory accounts covering the financial year.
  • Adjust accounting profit to taxable profit: add back depreciation and disallowables, claim capital allowances.
  • Apply losses, group relief and any reliefs the company qualifies for.
  • Compute the tax, applying the rate bands and Marginal Relief after counting associated companies.
  • Pay the tax, then file the Company Tax Return with accounts and computations attached.
  • File the accounts separately at Companies House, to a different deadline.

Filing and payment deadlines, and why they do not line up

Corporation Tax is payable nine months and one day after the end of the accounting period. The Company Tax Return is due twelve months after the end of the accounting period. Payment therefore falls due three months before the return that calculates it, which is why a reasonable estimate has to be produced early.

Companies House runs to a third timetable. Annual accounts are due nine months after the company's financial year ends, or twenty-one months after the date of registration for a first set of accounts.

The confirmation statement is separate again and must be filed at least once in every twelve month review period, with up to fourteen days after the period ends to deliver it. Companies House can issue a financial penalty and may strike the company off if it is not filed.

Reliefs and claims a corporate tax specialist handles

  • Capital allowances on plant, machinery and fixtures, including allowances embedded in a building purchase.
  • Research and development relief, where accounting periods beginning on or after 1 April 2024 fall under the merged scheme or Enhanced R&D intensive support rather than the old SME relief.
  • Loss relief: carrying losses back, forward, or surrendering them within a group.
  • Group relief and the consequences of associated companies for the rate bands.
  • Chargeable gains on the disposal of company assets, including indexation where it still applies.
  • Patent Box and creative industry reliefs where a company's activities qualify.

Associated companies, rate bands and getting the arithmetic right

The £50,000 and £250,000 profit limits are not per company in isolation. Gov.uk states that they are proportionately reduced for short accounting periods and by the total number of associated companies. A director with three small companies under common control does not get three sets of full limits.

That single point moves more tax than most planning ideas. Getting the associated company count right requires looking at control, not just shareholdings on the face of it, and it is worth revisiting whenever a new company is incorporated or an investment is made.

Marginal Relief applies between the two limits, so profits in that band are effectively taxed at a rate above the small profits rate and below the main rate. The detailed calculation is set out in HMRC's Marginal Relief guidance.

Statutory accounts and the tax computation are different documents

Statutory accounts report performance and position under accounting standards. They include a balance sheet showing what the company owns, owes and is owed at the year end, a profit and loss account, notes, and a directors' report unless the company is a micro-entity. They go to shareholders, to anyone entitled to attend general meetings, to Companies House and to HMRC with the Company Tax Return.

The tax computation is a separate calculation that starts from the accounts and adjusts. A company can be loss-making for accounting purposes and still owe tax, or profitable and owe none, because the two sets of rules measure different things.

Management accounts are different again: internal, unaudited and prepared to whatever timetable is useful to the board. They have no filing status and no statutory format.

Where corporation tax computations go wrong

  • Associated companies missed, so the rate bands are applied too generously.
  • R&D claims made without the claim notification or the additional information HMRC requires before a claim.
  • Capital expenditure treated as repairs, or repairs capitalised, changing both the accounts and the allowances.
  • Director loan account balances overlooked until after the year end, when the options have narrowed.
  • Tax paid nine months and one day after the year end on a guess that later proves badly wrong.
  • Accounts filed at Companies House that do not agree to the computations sent to HMRC.

What sits outside a corporate tax accountant's remit

  • A statutory audit, unless the firm is registered for audit with a Recognised Supervisory Body.
  • Insolvency appointments, which require a licence from a recognised professional body.
  • Personal tax planning for the shareholders, which is usually a separate engagement even when the same firm does both.
  • Legal drafting of share documents, shareholder agreements or reorganisation steps.
  • Signing off the accounts, which remains a director responsibility whoever prepared them.

Corporate Tax Accountants: frequently asked questions

What rate of Corporation Tax will my company pay?

The main rate is 25% where profits exceed £250,000, and a small profits rate of 19% applies where profits are £50,000 or less. Between the two, Marginal Relief applies. Both limits are reduced proportionately for short accounting periods and by the total number of associated companies.

Why is my tax due before my tax return?

Because they run on different clocks. Corporation Tax is payable nine months and one day after the accounting period ends, while the Company Tax Return is not due until twelve months after it ends. The practical effect is that the computation has to be estimated accurately three months before it is formally filed.

Do we still qualify for SME R&D relief?

The SME scheme described in HMRC's guidance applies to accounting periods beginning before 1 April 2024. For periods beginning on or after that date, companies claim under the merged R&D scheme or Enhanced R&D intensive support instead. Both routes have a claim notification step and an additional information requirement before the claim itself.

Does a group need an audit?

Possibly. Subsidiary companies cannot take the ordinary small company audit exemption unless a specific exemption applies, and the small company thresholds for financial years beginning on or after 6 April 2025 are turnover no more than £15 million, assets no more than £7.5 million and 50 or fewer employees on average, with at least two of the three needing to be met.

Can I just file the accounts and sort tax out later?

The two filings are independent, so late Companies House filing and late HMRC filing carry their own consequences. Companies House may issue a financial penalty and can strike a company off for failure to file, and directors are reminded on gov.uk that they remain legally responsible for the company's records, accounts and performance even when a professional is engaged.

Sources

  1. GOV.UK — Corporation Tax rates and reliefs
  2. GOV.UK — Accounts and tax returns for private limited companies
  3. GOV.UK — Statutory accounts: what they must include
  4. HMRC — Corporation Tax: R&D tax relief for small and medium-sized enterprises
  5. GOV.UK — Audit exemptions for private limited companies
  6. GOV.UK — Confirmation statement guidance (Companies House)
  7. GOV.UK — Running a limited company: directors' responsibilities

Written by the LokalMatch editorial team. Last reviewed 22 September 2026. How we write and check our guides

Find corporate tax accountants by city

England

Show 173 cities

Northern Ireland

Show 7 cities

Scotland

Show 10 cities

Wales

Show 5 cities

What affects the fees corporate tax accountants charge

Fees depend on the work involved and how the professional bills. We only publish fee ranges when they’re backed by real LokalMatch data or reliable sources. Until then, here’s what usually changes the fee:

  • Scope and complexity of the work
  • How the professional bills: hourly, flat fee or retainer
  • Experience and seniority of the person doing the work
  • Deadlines and how urgent the work is
  • Third-party costs such as filing, registration or government fees

How to compare corporate tax accountants before you hire

  • Check that they are licensed or registered for this work where you live, on the regulator’s public register.
  • Look for experience with matters like yours, and ask who will actually handle your file.
  • Ask how they charge before any work starts, and get the terms in writing.
  • Compare two or three professionals before you decide.
  • Be wary of anyone who guarantees a particular outcome.

Questions to ask corporate tax accountants before you hire

  • Are you licensed or registered for this work, and with which body?
  • Have you handled matters like mine before?
  • Who will do the work, and who will I deal with day to day?
  • How do you charge: hourly, a flat fee or a retainer?
  • What is included in your fee, and what costs extra?
  • Will you confirm the scope and fees in a written engagement letter?
  • Do you carry professional liability insurance?

Licences and registration

This kind of work is often limited to licensed or registered professionals, and the rules depend on where you are. Ask which body they’re registered with, and check their status on that body’s public register before you hire.

Guides about corporate tax

Related professional services