Service
First-Year Accounting for New Limited Companies
Fixed-fee first-year limited company accounting with a clear scope, practical guidance and ACCA-regulated support.
A private company's first accounts are normally due at Companies House 21 months after incorporation. Corporation Tax is usually payable 9 months and 1 day after the relevant accounting period ends, while the Company Tax Return is due 12 months after that period ends. Because a first set of accounts often covers more than 12 months, two Corporation Tax returns may be required. Countify maps these dates and handles the bookkeeping, payroll, VAT advice, accounts and returns under one first-year package.
Overview
One Package from Incorporation to Your First Accounts
A new limited company has several separate deadlines, and its first Companies House accounts can cover a different period from its Corporation Tax return. Countify coordinates the whole first year: bookkeeping and software setup, director payroll, VAT-registration advice, statutory records, the confirmation statement, annual accounts, Corporation Tax computations and the CT600. You receive a written scope, named accountant and fixed fee, with each deadline mapped from your actual incorporation and trading dates.
What you get
What the First-Year Package Covers
We begin with the company's incorporation date, trading start date, accounting reference date, owners, expected turnover and first transactions. From there we configure the records, agree who does what each month and build a compliance calendar covering Companies House and HMRC. The package can support a pre-revenue company, a director-funded start-up or a business already taking customer payments.
Key benefits
Bookkeeping software and chart of accounts configured correctly
Director's loan, pre-incorporation costs and share capital recorded
PAYE payroll setup for directors and employees where required
VAT threshold monitoring and voluntary-registration advice
First statutory accounts and Corporation Tax return prepared
Confirmation statement and filing calendar kept visible
Why choose Countify
First-Year Limited Company Accounting, done right.
Countify connects decisions that are often handled in isolation. The treatment of personally paid start-up costs affects the director's loan account; VAT timing affects pricing and cash flow; payroll affects director remuneration; and the trading start date affects the first Corporation Tax periods. Keeping these under one named accountant gives the first accounts a clean audit trail and avoids reconstructing twelve months of decisions at year end.
Detail
Your First-Year Deliverables
The exact scope is agreed before onboarding, but a typical package brings these connected tasks into one workflow:
Opening bookkeeping balances, bank feed and receipt-capture setup.
Share capital, director funding and director's loan account review.
Pre-incorporation and pre-trading expense review.
Monthly or quarterly bookkeeping review at the agreed frequency.
Director payroll, payslips and RTI submissions where included.
VAT registration and MTD setup where required or beneficial.
First annual accounts, tax computation and CT600 submission.
Confirmation statement support and a next-year deadline calendar.
Detail
The Deadlines We Map for You
Dates are calculated from the company record and trading start date rather than copied from a generic checklist.
Confirmation statement: review the company record every 12 months and file within 14 days after the review period ends.
First accounts: normally due 21 months after incorporation for a private company, subject to the actual accounting reference period.
Corporation Tax payment: normally due 9 months and 1 day after the relevant accounting period ends.
Company Tax Return: due 12 months after each accounting period it covers ends.
How we work
Predictable, fixed-fee engagements.
First-Year Limited Company Accounting starts with a free discovery call. From there, we agree the scope and fixed fee upfront, so there are no surprises on your invoice. Once instructed, we deal directly with the relevant records, authorities and software access needed for this service.
- Step 01
Free discovery call
A 20-minute chat to understand your first-year limited company accounting needs, deadlines, and current records.
- Step 02
Fixed-fee proposal
We confirm the first-year limited company accounting scope and price in writing through an engagement letter.
- Step 03
Onboarding & delivery
We collect the information needed for first-year limited company accounting and keep each agreed deadline visible.
For first-year limited company accounting, we support clients in Glasgow city centre, across Scotland, and throughout the UK via Xero, QuickBooks Online, FreeAgent and secure document sharing. Day-to-day contact is with your named accountant.
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First-Year Checklist Generator
Personalised HMRC & Companies House deadline checklist for newly incorporated UK companies.
Corporation Tax Estimator
Estimate CT600 with marginal relief between £50k and £250k profit.
VAT Threshold Checker
Rolling 12-month turnover vs £90k threshold. Cash-flow impact of registration modelled.
Related guides
Read more about
first-year limited company accounting.
Useful next steps
Related support
for this work.
A private company's first accounts are normally due 21 months after incorporation. The precise deadline can differ if the accounting reference date changes or the first accounts cover 12 months or less, so we confirm it from the Companies House record.
A Corporation Tax accounting period cannot exceed 12 months, while first statutory accounts often run from incorporation to the end of the following month and therefore cover slightly more than a year. In that situation the accounts stay as one set but the tax period is divided between two CT600 returns and potentially two payment dates.
Potentially. We review the invoice, date, business purpose and who incurred the cost, then record eligible amounts through the director's loan account or the appropriate company expense treatment. VAT recovery has separate evidence and timing rules, so it is checked independently.
It can be worthwhile where customers are VAT-registered and the company has meaningful VAT-bearing costs, but it may damage margin where customers cannot recover VAT. Mandatory registration generally applies once taxable turnover exceeds £90,000 over the previous 12 months or is expected to exceed it in the next 30 days. We model the decision before applying.
Director payroll can be included where PAYE is appropriate. A director's personal Self Assessment return is scoped separately because not every director needs one and the work depends on their wider income, dividends and benefits. Both items are stated clearly in the written proposal.
Tell us if you need a registered office or director service address when requesting the package. We will confirm availability, the address service included and any separate fee in writing before onboarding.
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