I am about to complete my first company tax return for corporation tax so I have to make 2 returns for 2 accounting dates.
I fall within the micro-entity provisions so I just need to produce figures from the balance sheet only.
I need to produce one set of balance sheet figures from 20th Sept 2013 to 19th Sept 2014 and another from 20th Sept 2014 to 30th Sept 2014.
The balance sheet report doesn’t have a from-date but there is a field for a comparative date so I was planning to produce one report using 19th sept 2014 as the date to give me the figures for the first return then another using 30th sept 2014 as the date again with 19th sept 2014 as the comparative date and subtract the comparative figures from the 30th figures
…does this sound the right way to do it?
many thanks for continuing to maintain such an excellent piece of software and for keeping the desktop edition free - I am happily planning to pay for the cloud edition as I start making enough turnover.
I don’t know where you are, @markjwilliamson, but your comments suggest you are using incorrect terminology. I know of no taxation scheme that would rely only upon balance sheet figures.
A balance sheet summarizes assets, liabilities, and equity as of a single, specific date. It does not cover a period of time, and it does nothing to tell you either how much revenue you had or what deductions might be allowed to offset that revenue. Your balance sheet could change without a single invoice being issued, payment received, or paid-out expense.
I wonder if you should not be using the Profit and Loss Statement. These can be created for any defined period of time. They show your income and expenses by account, and can be generated on either the accrual or cash basis, depending upon how you do your tax reporting.
The comparative dates on any of the reports are only meant to allow side by side comparison of results or financial positions for different periods or dates. While this information is useful for examining trends, it does not specifically support tax filing.
Having said all that, I admit I am no expert in taxation systems of the world. So, if what I say contradicts your local procedures, feel free to ignore me.
Hi Tut, I am in the UK and yes you are right I also need the P&L figures for the same periods for tax, I was getting confused between the accounts return to companies house and the one to HMRC for tax Usually we would need to use P&L figures too for the accounts return to companies house but the micro-entity provisions for very very small companies allow just a entry of figures from just the balance sheet for this. So my question would be the same for the P&L report also for corporation tax for the same periods.
…these filing procedures are really confusing for a first time director, (I can’t afford an accountant yet as turnover is < £200 /year). I’ve done some bookkeeping but I’m definitely no accountant
What exactly is your question concerning the P&L, @markjwilliamson? Your original posting only asked if you were doing things correctly to get balance sheet numbers for two different dates. It sounded like you were. In fact, you could do a balance sheet every day if you wanted. Of course, they are typically generated only for the ends of accounting or reporting periods.
The P&L is different because you specify both starting and ending dates, getting net profit or loss for the period.
Oh, I see the P&L report DOES have a start & end date so I can produce what’s needed for the tax, sorry guys I was confusing myself!
I just hope that the entry fields on the online tax-return screens are explanatory enough for me to know which fields to get the figures from the P&L report!
The figures on the P&L will be organized according to your chart of accounts, which can be set up under Settings. My recommendation is to set up your chart of accounts to match the reporting categories on the tax forms. That makes things very simple.
If your business is very new and there are not yet many transactions, you can modify the chart of accounts and then go back and edit the transactions to assign them to the new accounts. You may be able to just change names on the existing accounts you used. You will not be able to delete any of the unnecessary accounts until you have reassigned any transactions in them. But after you have, you can get rid of unwanted accounts (except for control accounts like Accounts receivable that are hard-coded into the program).
