Companies limited by guarantee: filing the CT600 and accounts

Last updated: 26 October 2026

Short version. A company limited by guarantee files through the ordinary company route: a CT600 with a tax computation for an active company, and micro-entity accounts showing members' funds with no share capital, to HMRC, Companies House or both. A charitable company claiming exemption uses the separate CT600E route. SimpleCompanyTax supports UK private companies limited by guarantee. The wizard reads the legal form from Companies House and shows members’ funds, with no Share capital input. Use the steps below for prepared donations, raffle receipts and costs.

Go to the steps and entry details

On this page

Legal form does not decide Corporation Tax treatment. You supply the figures and classifications. Charitable companies use the separate supported full-exemption CT600E route with uploaded accounts, rather than generated micro-entity accounts.

Ordinary company routeNo share capitalTrading or dormantWhere you see it: Read from Companies House when you add the company. Shown on Financial Data › Balance sheet

Before entering figures, the filing setup questions can set the existing destination and CT600 route for an ordinary limited company. They keep the full accounts dates beside the CT600 dates. You can also continue with the controls below without opening the questions.

What this guide covers

A company limited by guarantee files through the ordinary company route: a CT600 with a tax computation for an active company, and micro-entity accounts showing members' funds with no share capital, to HMRC, Companies House or both. A charitable company claiming exemption uses the separate CT600E route.

There is nothing to select. The wizard reads the company type from the Companies House record.
On the first step, a guarantee company answers Special tax regimes with No, unless it is a charity or CASC claiming full exemption. Being limited by guarantee is not a special regime. What each answer files
On Financial Data the balance sheet has no Share capital row. The total is labelled Members’ funds and must equal Net assets (liabilities).
The tax is worked out from your figures as for any company. Being limited by guarantee does not change it.
For an accounts period over 12 months, you enter full-period figures once and we prepare two CT600s with a computation each. What changes for a long period

Is this the right guide?

Use it if all of these are true

Companies House shows the company as private limited by guarantee, with or without the word Limited in its name.
It qualifies as a micro-entity, which is a size test, not a legal-form test.
It is not a charity claiming exemption, and not a community interest company.

Do not use it if

The company is a charity, or a CASC, claiming exemption on all of its income and gains.Use instead: Charity and CASC CT600E route
The company is a community interest company.Use instead: Community interest companies
It is a flat-management or right-to-manage company and you need to know which money is its own.Use instead: Flat-management and RTM companies
It is larger than a micro-entity, or needs an audit.This service does not produce small-company or audited accounts. The micro-entity requirement

Common mistakes

Entering the guarantee amount

The guarantee, usually £1 per member, is not an asset, a liability or capital. It does not appear on the balance sheet, so do not enter it anywhere. Enter your accumulated reserves in Retained earnings.

Adding back the whole expense row

If Other charges holds both deductible fees and costs your company treats as non-deductible, enter only the non-deductible part in Disallowable expenses. Adding back the entire row would remove the deduction for the fees too.

Assuming not-for-profit means no tax

A not-for-profit company can have taxable trading income, and HMRC treats promoting a lottery as trading. The return will not necessarily show no taxable profit. Donations, raffle receipts and costs

Worked example

Company: Juniper Example Community Ltd, a private company limited by guarantee without share capital
Accounts period: 1 April 2025 to 31 March 2026
Raffle: £240 of ticket sales, with £24 of platform fees included in the other costs
Donations: Gifts the company classifies as outside its trading receipts
Reserves: An accumulated fund, entered as retained earnings
Filing: CT600 to HMRC and accounts to Companies House

The company and all figures on this page are fictional.

Before you start

Your accounts: The profit and loss and balance sheet for the accounts period. The classification of each amount is your company’s decision.
Company UTR: Ten digits, on letters from HMRC. Where to find your UTR
Government Gateway details: The user ID and password for the company's HMRC account. Setting up a Government Gateway account
Companies House authentication code: Only if you are filing the accounts there too. Where to find it

The company and all figures on this page are fictional.

Step by step

Start a new filing
Dashboard, company card
Click New filing. If you see Resume filing, click the small arrow beside it and choose Start new filing →
Confirm the company
Tick the confirmation box, then click Continue with this company →
Company Profile & Period
Accounting period
1 April 2025 to 31 March 2026
Special tax regimes
NoBeing limited by guarantee does not by itself put a company in any special regime.
What are you filing?
Companies House & HMRC CT600, HMRC CT600 or Companies HouseYou can still change this on the filing page. Filing to HMRC, Companies House or both
Trading status
ActiveThe form starts on Dormant, so make sure you change it. Keep Dormant only for a dormant company. Dormant guarantee companies
What the company does
TradingFor raffle trading receipts. Choose the option that matches the income you are entering.
Click Next →.
Financial Data
Open Profit & loss and enter your prepared figures.
Previous year
Last year’s figures, from your previous accountsRequired before you continue. Figures from Companies House fill in where available. Check them, and enter 0 where a line had no amount.
Turnover
240Gross raffle ticket sales, before platform fees. Enter 0 if you have no trading receipts.
Cost of raw materials and consumables
0Required. Enter 0 when there are none.
Staff costs
0Required. Enter 0 when there are none.
Other charges
Your total of other costs, including the £24 feeAdd the costs and enter the row total including pence.
+ Add other income
Click it, then enter donations classified outside trading receipts in 205 Income not falling under any other headingThe full accounts amount, before costs.
+ Show all adjustment options
Click it under Tax adjustments
Other income not taxable
Only the part your company treats as not chargeable
Disallowable expenses
Only the non-deductible part of costs already entered
Retained earnings
Your accumulated fund or surplus at the period endThere is no Share capital row.
Members’ funds
Worked out for youIt must equal Net assets (liabilities) before you can continue.
Average number of employees
Your average number, or 0
Click Next → when every section is complete.
More help: Other income not taxable · Disallowable expenses
Review & file
The Corporation tax due card shows the tax worked out from your figures.
Optional
Click Preview your documents (free) to check the CT600, the computation and the accounts
Subscribe
Click Unlock Filing and complete payment
Continue
Click Continue to submission
Filing credentials
Corporation Tax UTR
Your 10-digit UTR
Gateway User ID
Your Government Gateway user ID
Gateway Password
Your Government Gateway password
Authentication code
Only shown if you chose Companies House as well
Select the director submitting this return
The director’s name
Accounts approval date
The date the directors approved the accountsWhat to enter
Declaration
Tick it
Click Submit to HMRC, or Submit to HMRC & Companies House.
After you submit
Each return shows Accepted once HMRC confirms it. HMRC usually replies within a few minutes, but it can take longer.
More help: Filing statuses explained

What gets filed

CT600 and computationTo HMRC, with the accounts attached, when you choose HMRC

Micro-entity accountsStating that the company is limited by guarantee and has no share capital

Members’ fundsRetained earnings, equal to net assets, with no share capital rows

What a company limited by guarantee is

A company is limited by guarantee when its members' liability is limited to the amount they have undertaken to contribute if the company is wound up (Companies Act 2006, section 3). Its members are guarantors rather than shareholders, and the company has no share capital. The guarantee is usually a nominal amount such as £1 per member. This form is common for flat-management and right-to-manage companies, clubs and associations that have incorporated, trade bodies, community groups and most charitable companies.

Companies House shows the type as “Private limited by guarantee without share capital”. A guarantee company whose articles stop it paying anything to its members can also be registered without the word “Limited” in its name (section 60). Both are the same legal form, and we accept both.

What we file for it

The CT600, with the Corporation Tax computation, to HMRC.
FRS 105 micro-entity accounts to Companies House, and the same accounts attached to the CT600. The accounts carry the correct legal-form tag and state that the company is limited by guarantee and does not have a share capital.
Either one on its own. Under What are you filing? on the first step you choose Companies House and HMRC, HMRC only, or Companies House only, and you can still change it on the filing page. See filing to HMRC, Companies House or both.

The company must qualify as a micro-entity, which is a size test and not a legal-form test: at least two of the three limits on turnover, balance sheet total and average employees. See the micro-entity requirement. A guarantee company that is larger than a micro-entity needs small-company accounts, which this service does not produce.

What you enter: no share capital, members' funds

The balance sheet for a guarantee company has no Share capital row and no “called up share capital not paid” row, because there are no shares. Capital and reserves are simply the retained earnings the company has built up, shown as members' funds. That total must equal net assets, the same balance check every company passes.

Enter your retained earnings (the profit and loss account balance at the period end). If your accounts call it an accumulated fund or accumulated surplus, it is the same figure.
Do not enter the guarantee amount anywhere. It is not an asset, a liability or capital, and it does not appear on the balance sheet.
If your records are kept as an income and expenditure account, enter each amount according to what it is, not all of it as one figure. Trading or business income goes in Turnover, rent from property goes in the property income fields, bank interest goes in the interest received field, and something that fits no other field goes in 205 Income not falling under any other heading. Donation receipts are explained below. Your surplus or deficit for the year is a useful cross-check on the result, not a figure you type in. Micro-entity accounts use the profit and loss layout for every company.

Everything else on the balance sheet is the same as for any company: fixed assets, current assets, creditors, and the optional lines. The two articles about share capital, called up share capital not paid and share premium and other reserves, are about companies limited by shares and do not apply to you.

Donations, raffle receipts and costs

A not-for-profit company can have taxable trading income. Calling a receipt a donation does not settle its tax treatment. HMRC distinguishes voluntary gifts outside a trade from receipts connected with a trade. See its guidance on voluntary gifts and voluntary trading receipts. Enter the accounting figures and tax treatment your company has prepared.

SimpleCompanyTax supports these figures through the ordinary company route. For a micro-entity CLG with donations and raffle trading receipts, where no special regime applies, answer No under Special tax regimes and choose Trading. Enter your actual trading receipts in Turnover, or zero if you have none. Then map your prepared figures:

Donations classified outside trading receipts: Profit & loss → + Add other income → 205 Income not falling under any other heading
The full accounts amount, before costs.
Part treated as not chargeable: Tax adjustments → Other income not taxable
Only the non-taxable part. The accompanying Description is optional.
Raffle trading receipts: Profit & loss → Turnover
Gross ticket sales, before platform fees.
Platform fees and programme costs with no other expense row: Profit & loss → Other charges
Add the costs for the whole accounts period and enter the row total including pence.
Costs treated as non-deductible: Tax adjustments → Disallowable expenses
Only the non-deductible part of costs already entered. Do not add back deductible costs in the same row.

Donations remain in your accounts within Other income. The tax adjustment excludes the amount you entered as non-taxable, leaving only the taxable remainder in CT600 box 205. Goods bought to give directly to beneficiaries are not automatically a qualifying charitable-donation claim.

In the fictional example, a company receives £240 from raffle ticket sales and pays £24 in platform fees. It enters £240 as gross Turnover and includes the fee in its Other charges total. Add the costs in each row and enter the total including pence in the wizard. If that row also contains programme spending the company treats as non-deductible, add back that spending only. Adding back the entire row would remove the fee deduction too.

HMRC treats promoting a lottery as trading. Its specific donation-element concession requires conditions about the stated fraction of the ticket price and the destination and purposes of the donation. Non-profit status alone does not establish eligibility. Read the lottery guidance and the full concession conditions. Raffle receipts mean the return will not necessarily show no taxable profit.

See Other income not taxable for the adjustment and qualifying charitable donations for payments that have their own relief field.

Review before submitting

Your accounts should show the gross income and all the costs you entered.
Your computation should exclude only the income you treated as non-taxable and add back only the costs you treated as non-deductible.
If your accounts cover more than 12 months, check both CT600s and their computations.

Accounts covering more than 12 months

When your accounts period ends more than 12 months after it starts, even by one day, HMRC needs two CT600s. Enter the full accounts-period totals once. The long-period journey prepares two CT600s and their computations, with the full-period accounts attached. Review both returns and enter any requested allocation in the split controls. Costs added back for tax stay in the accounts. See filing a long first period.

205 Income not falling under any other heading and Other income not taxable are divided between the two returns by the number of days in each. The wizard does not ask for the date of each donation, so a one-off donation received in one return's dates can still appear partly in both returns. If you choose Enter figures separately on the first step, you enter each return's figures yourself instead.

More help: How figures are shared between two returns · Separate figures for each return

Dormant guarantee companies

A guarantee company with no significant accounting transactions in the period is dormant, exactly like any other company. Keep Trading status on Dormant on the first step. A dormant guarantee company usually has a nil balance sheet: no cash of its own, no creditors, members' funds of £0. Companies House accepts dormant accounts for companies limited by shares and by guarantee alike. If HMRC has not asked for a Corporation Tax return for the period, you can file the accounts on their own by choosing Companies House. Flat-management and right-to-manage companies are often in this position: see flat-management and RTM companies.

Corporation Tax: legal form changes nothing by itself

Being limited by guarantee does not by itself change the ordinary Corporation Tax calculation. The rates, marginal relief and reliefs that apply depend on the company's own activities, income types, claims and any special status, exactly as they do for a company limited by shares. The CT600 has no guarantee-company box. Box 4, the type of company, is 0 for most companies. HMRC lists separate codes for a members' club or voluntary association (6), a property management company (7) and a charity (8). Being limited by guarantee does not by itself put a company in any of those categories. The first step asks under Special tax regimes whether a special Corporation Tax regime applies, and we file what you answer. We do not decide it for you, and we do not change box 4 because of the legal form.

What we do not file

Charity accounts. Charitable companies cannot use micro-entity accounts under Companies Act 2006 section 384B. The separate CT600E filing route supports full exemption claims with uploaded accounts. Companies House and charity regulator filings remain separate.
Property management companies can declare code 7 on Financial data when active. The dormant journey does not offer code 7. See the filing steps.
Community interest companies: we file the CT600 to HMRC, but Companies House does not take a CIC's accounts directly from filing software, so the company submits the accounts and the CIC34 report through the Companies House CIC accounts service. See community interest companies.
Small-company accounts under FRS 102 Section 1A, and any company that needs an audit.

If one of these applies, this service does not file that part, and your company stays in your account. We would rather tell you where our support stops than file something wrong.

Where you see it in the wizard

When you add the company we read its type from Companies House. On the Financial data step the balance sheet shows Retained earnings and a Members’ funds total with no share capital rows, and the review page's accounts card leaves out the share capital figure. The generated accounts state the legal form, and we check that statement against the Companies House record before anything is sent. If the record on file is incomplete, we ask you to open the company page, which refreshes it.

This article is general guidance, not tax or legal advice. The definitions are in the Companies Act 2006, section 3, Companies House's incorporation and names guidance and the Company Tax Return guide for box 4.

Not the right guide?

Open the guide that matches your company.

Special tax regimesWhat No, charity and CASC full exemption each file.Property management company, box 4 code 7Active management companies declaring code 7.Flat-management and RTM companiesWhich figures are the company’s own.Charity CT600E filing stepsCharitable companies claiming full exemption.

Looking for a different field or step? See all filing wizard guides →

Official sources

Whether this route matches your filings is for you to decide, yourself or with your accountant.

Example companies and figures are fictional. Field names match the filing wizard as of 12 October 2026.