According to HMRC's late-filing penalty schedule, file your Company Tax Return late and HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) charges £200 the day after the deadline, then another £200 once the return is three months late. Miss six months and HMRC stops waiting: it estimates your Corporation Tax bill itself and adds a penalty of 10% of the unpaid tax, with another 10% of any unpaid tax at twelve months. Late three times in a row and the two £200 penalties rise to £1,000 each (HMRC, gov.uk page updated 8 November 2024).
That scale is separate from anything Companies House charges. Companies House penalises late accounts on its own ladder — £150 to £1,500 for a private company, doubled if you file late in two successive financial years. Two regulators mean two clocks and two bills. The £200 charges are fixed and can be appealed with a reasonable excuse, while the 10% charges only bite if tax is actually unpaid.
What is the penalty for filing a Company Tax Return late?
The first thing to understand is that the HMRC scale has two halves. The early penalties are flat amounts that do not care how big your company is — a dormant-ish consultancy and a £2m turnover firm both pay £200 on day one. The later penalties are percentages, so they scale with the tax you owe and can dwarf everything that came before. Here is the full ladder as HMRC publishes it.
Time after deadline
Penalty
1 day
£200
3 months
Another £200
6 months
HMRC estimates your Corporation Tax bill and adds a penalty of 10% of the unpaid tax
12 months
Another 10% of any unpaid tax
One line deserves extra attention: "If your tax return is late 3 times in a row, the £200 penalties are increased to £1000 each." That is HMRC's own wording. A director who drifts three accounting periods in a row turns a £400 irritation into a £2,000 charge before any percentage is applied. Repeat lateness is the expensive part, not the single missed year.
Paying and filing are also two different obligations with two different deadlines. The return is one act; settling the bill is another, and Corporation Tax is normally due before the return is. If you are unsure which date applies to your accounting period, start with how and when to pay Corporation Tax — a filing penalty and an unpaid balance are separate problems and want separate fixes.
If your year-end is approaching and you would rather get the sequence right than unpick it later, our free guide walks through the filings a new director has to make.
How is an HMRC penalty different from a Companies House late filing penalty?
They are different regimes run by different bodies, triggered by different documents. HMRC penalises a late Company Tax Return (the CT600). Companies House penalises late annual accounts. You can file one on time and the other late, and you can absolutely be fined twice for what feels like a single act of forgetting, because most directors think of "the accounts" as one job.
The Companies House late-accounts scale for a private company runs £150 for accounts up to a month late, £375 for one to three months, £750 for three to six months, and £1,500 beyond six months. Those amounts are doubled where accounts are filed late in two successive financial years. The parallel with HMRC's repeat-offender rule is not a coincidence: both regulators price the second and third slip far higher than the first. We break the bands down in more detail in our piece on the Companies House late filing penalty.
Three practical differences matter when you are deciding what to do first. HMRC's percentage penalties depend on how much tax is outstanding, so clearing the bill limits the damage even if the return is still missing. Companies House penalties are fixed by lateness alone — paying something early changes nothing, only filing does. And the two deadlines rarely fall on the same date, because your accounts filing deadline and your CT600 deadline are set by different rules. If that split is new to you, the three filings, three clocks is the piece to read next.
What happens if the return is more than 6–12 months late?
At six months, HMRC stops estimating in private and starts estimating in writing. It sends a letter setting out how much Corporation Tax it believes you owe, and in HMRC's words: "If your tax return is 6 months late, HMRC will write telling you how much Corporation Tax they think you must pay. This is called a 'tax determination'. You cannot appeal against it."
Read that last sentence twice. The £200 penalties can be challenged. The determination cannot. HMRC's estimate becomes the figure on record, and the only way to displace it is to file the actual return so the real numbers replace the estimate. Alongside the determination sits a penalty of 10% of the unpaid tax, and at twelve months another 10% of any unpaid tax lands on top.
The order of operations is therefore fixed, and it is not the order most people choose. File the outstanding return first, even if it is messy and even if you cannot pay. Filing replaces the determination with your figures and stops the percentage penalties growing against an inflated estimate. Then deal with the balance, because both percentage penalties are calculated on unpaid tax and an outstanding bill is what keeps them growing. Appeals come last, once the return is in.
There is no version of this where waiting helps. Every milestone on the scale adds money, and the six-month milestone hands HMRC the pen. If the return is already overdue and the paperwork is a mess, that is the moment to get a professional pair of eyes on it rather than another quiet month.
Yes, but only on the ground HMRC recognises and only in the right order. HMRC's position is plain: "If you have a reasonable excuse, you can appeal against a late filing penalty online." And, critically, "You must file your Company Tax Return before appealing your late filing penalty."
That second rule catches people out constantly. Directors receive the £200 notice, feel it is unfair, and appeal immediately — with the return still outstanding. The appeal goes nowhere and the clock keeps running towards the three-month charge. File, then appeal.
"Reasonable excuse" is HMRC's term, not a general fairness test, and the bar is not set by how busy you were. Being late because the year was chaotic is not the same as being late because something genuinely prevented you from filing. If you think you have grounds, write them down while the facts are fresh, keep the dates and the evidence together, and be honest about which category you are in. Where you are unsure, it is worth taking the time to speak to an accountant about your filing before you spend a month on an appeal that was never going to land.
What if the company is dormant or has no tax to pay?
The percentage penalties are calculated on unpaid tax, so a company with nothing to pay does not accumulate the 10% charges. The flat £200 penalties are a different matter — they attach to the late return itself, not to the bill. A company with a zero liability can still owe £400, and £2,000 if it is the third consecutive late return.
Dormancy does not automatically remove the obligation either. Being dormant for Companies House purposes and being treated as dormant for Corporation Tax are two different statuses, and only HMRC can confirm the second. If you believe your company is dormant for Corporation Tax, check that status with HMRC rather than assuming a notice to deliver a return no longer applies to you.
If you are setting up or restarting a company and want the filing obligations mapped out before the first deadline arrives, the free guide is the quickest way in.
Getting this right is mostly about respecting that there are two regulators watching two different documents. Miss that, and you pay twice for one oversight.
Frequently asked questions
Does HMRC charge the £200 penalty even if I file one day late?
Yes. The scale starts at one day late with a £200 penalty, regardless of how small the delay or the company.
Can the £200 penalties really become £1,000?
Yes. HMRC states that where the tax return is late three times in a row, the £200 penalties are increased to £1,000 each.
Can I appeal the tax determination HMRC sends at six months?
No. HMRC states you cannot appeal against a tax determination. Filing the actual return is what replaces the estimate.
Do I still have to file if HMRC has already estimated my bill?
Yes. You still need to pay the Corporation Tax due and send the return, even after a determination has been issued.
Will a Companies House fine cancel out an HMRC penalty?
No. They are separate regimes with separate documents and separate deadlines, and one can be charged alongside the other.
According to HMRC's late-filing penalty schedule, file your Company Tax Return late and HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) charges £200 the day after the deadline, then another £200 once the return is three months late. Miss six months and HMRC stops waiting: it estimates your Corporation Tax bill itself and adds a penalty of 10% of the unpaid tax, with another 10% of any unpaid tax at twelve months. Late three times in a row and the two £200 penalties rise to £1,000 each (HMRC, gov.uk page updated 8 November 2024).
That scale is separate from anything Companies House charges. Companies House penalises late accounts on its own ladder — £150 to £1,500 for a private company, doubled if you file late in two successive financial years. Two regulators mean two clocks and two bills. The £200 charges are fixed and can be appealed with a reasonable excuse, while the 10% charges only bite if tax is actually unpaid.
What is the penalty for filing a Company Tax Return late?
The first thing to understand is that the HMRC scale has two halves. The early penalties are flat amounts that do not care how big your company is — a dormant-ish consultancy and a £2m turnover firm both pay £200 on day one. The later penalties are percentages, so they scale with the tax you owe and can dwarf everything that came before. Here is the full ladder as HMRC publishes it.
Time after deadline
Penalty
1 day
£200
3 months
Another £200
6 months
HMRC estimates your Corporation Tax bill and adds a penalty of 10% of the unpaid tax
12 months
Another 10% of any unpaid tax
One line deserves extra attention: "If your tax return is late 3 times in a row, the £200 penalties are increased to £1000 each." That is HMRC's own wording. A director who drifts three accounting periods in a row turns a £400 irritation into a £2,000 charge before any percentage is applied. Repeat lateness is the expensive part, not the single missed year.
Paying and filing are also two different obligations with two different deadlines. The return is one act; settling the bill is another, and Corporation Tax is normally due before the return is. If you are unsure which date applies to your accounting period, start with how and when to pay Corporation Tax — a filing penalty and an unpaid balance are separate problems and want separate fixes.
If your year-end is approaching and you would rather get the sequence right than unpick it later, our free guide walks through the filings a new director has to make.
How is an HMRC penalty different from a Companies House late filing penalty?
They are different regimes run by different bodies, triggered by different documents. HMRC penalises a late Company Tax Return (the CT600). Companies House penalises late annual accounts. You can file one on time and the other late, and you can absolutely be fined twice for what feels like a single act of forgetting, because most directors think of "the accounts" as one job.
The Companies House late-accounts scale for a private company runs £150 for accounts up to a month late, £375 for one to three months, £750 for three to six months, and £1,500 beyond six months. Those amounts are doubled where accounts are filed late in two successive financial years. The parallel with HMRC's repeat-offender rule is not a coincidence: both regulators price the second and third slip far higher than the first. We break the bands down in more detail in our piece on the Companies House late filing penalty.
Three practical differences matter when you are deciding what to do first. HMRC's percentage penalties depend on how much tax is outstanding, so clearing the bill limits the damage even if the return is still missing. Companies House penalties are fixed by lateness alone — paying something early changes nothing, only filing does. And the two deadlines rarely fall on the same date, because your accounts filing deadline and your CT600 deadline are set by different rules. If that split is new to you, the three filings, three clocks is the piece to read next.
What happens if the return is more than 6–12 months late?
At six months, HMRC stops estimating in private and starts estimating in writing. It sends a letter setting out how much Corporation Tax it believes you owe, and in HMRC's words: "If your tax return is 6 months late, HMRC will write telling you how much Corporation Tax they think you must pay. This is called a 'tax determination'. You cannot appeal against it."
Read that last sentence twice. The £200 penalties can be challenged. The determination cannot. HMRC's estimate becomes the figure on record, and the only way to displace it is to file the actual return so the real numbers replace the estimate. Alongside the determination sits a penalty of 10% of the unpaid tax, and at twelve months another 10% of any unpaid tax lands on top.
The order of operations is therefore fixed, and it is not the order most people choose. File the outstanding return first, even if it is messy and even if you cannot pay. Filing replaces the determination with your figures and stops the percentage penalties growing against an inflated estimate. Then deal with the balance, because both percentage penalties are calculated on unpaid tax and an outstanding bill is what keeps them growing. Appeals come last, once the return is in.
There is no version of this where waiting helps. Every milestone on the scale adds money, and the six-month milestone hands HMRC the pen. If the return is already overdue and the paperwork is a mess, that is the moment to get a professional pair of eyes on it rather than another quiet month.
Yes, but only on the ground HMRC recognises and only in the right order. HMRC's position is plain: "If you have a reasonable excuse, you can appeal against a late filing penalty online." And, critically, "You must file your Company Tax Return before appealing your late filing penalty."
That second rule catches people out constantly. Directors receive the £200 notice, feel it is unfair, and appeal immediately — with the return still outstanding. The appeal goes nowhere and the clock keeps running towards the three-month charge. File, then appeal.
"Reasonable excuse" is HMRC's term, not a general fairness test, and the bar is not set by how busy you were. Being late because the year was chaotic is not the same as being late because something genuinely prevented you from filing. If you think you have grounds, write them down while the facts are fresh, keep the dates and the evidence together, and be honest about which category you are in. Where you are unsure, it is worth taking the time to speak to an accountant about your filing before you spend a month on an appeal that was never going to land.
What if the company is dormant or has no tax to pay?
The percentage penalties are calculated on unpaid tax, so a company with nothing to pay does not accumulate the 10% charges. The flat £200 penalties are a different matter — they attach to the late return itself, not to the bill. A company with a zero liability can still owe £400, and £2,000 if it is the third consecutive late return.
Dormancy does not automatically remove the obligation either. Being dormant for Companies House purposes and being treated as dormant for Corporation Tax are two different statuses, and only HMRC can confirm the second. If you believe your company is dormant for Corporation Tax, check that status with HMRC rather than assuming a notice to deliver a return no longer applies to you.
If you are setting up or restarting a company and want the filing obligations mapped out before the first deadline arrives, the free guide is the quickest way in.
Getting this right is mostly about respecting that there are two regulators watching two different documents. Miss that, and you pay twice for one oversight.
Frequently asked questions
Does HMRC charge the £200 penalty even if I file one day late?
Yes. The scale starts at one day late with a £200 penalty, regardless of how small the delay or the company.
Can the £200 penalties really become £1,000?
Yes. HMRC states that where the tax return is late three times in a row, the £200 penalties are increased to £1,000 each.
Can I appeal the tax determination HMRC sends at six months?
No. HMRC states you cannot appeal against a tax determination. Filing the actual return is what replaces the estimate.
Do I still have to file if HMRC has already estimated my bill?
Yes. You still need to pay the Corporation Tax due and send the return, even after a determination has been issued.
Will a Companies House fine cancel out an HMRC penalty?
No. They are separate regimes with separate documents and separate deadlines, and one can be charged alongside the other.
