Enter my figures once: how figures are shared between two CT600s
Short version. Enter my figures once uses one set of figures for your accounts and your CT600s. When there are two CT600s, recurring income and costs are shared between them by days, and each amount on an allocation panel follows the split you confirm. Enter the totals from your accounts for the whole period. Do not divide them yourself. Then confirm each allocation panel that appears and review both computations.
Go to the steps and entry details
On this page
One set of figuresBoth CT600sAccounts periods over 12 monthsWhere you see it: Company Profile & Period › How do you want to enter your figures?
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.
Enter my figures once uses one set of figures for your accounts and your CT600s. When there are two CT600s, recurring income and costs are shared between them by days, and each amount on an allocation panel follows the split you confirm.
- The choice appears when you file a CT600 for an accounts period that ends more than 12 months after it starts, even by one day, or with separate Corporation Tax dates. It is hidden while Trading status is Dormant, and for File only the remaining CT600. It is the card marked Recommended and is selected unless you change it.
- Your accounts use the figures for the whole period, exactly as you enter them.
- Recurring income and running costs are divided between the two CT600s in proportion to the number of days in each. The two shares always add back up to your total, so nothing is taxed twice or left out. How the sharing works
- Dividends received, gains, capital allowances, donations and some other amounts belong to one date, so they are not shared by days. An allocation panel asks which return each amount belongs to and uses the split you confirm. Amounts that belong to one date
- Income in CT600 box 205 is shared by days, like recurring income. A one-off receipt can therefore appear in both returns. Other income in CT600 box 205
Is this the right option for you?
Use it if all of these are true
- You have figures for the whole accounts period, the same totals as in your accounts.
- Sharing recurring income and costs by the number of days suits your figures. HMRC usually apportions a long period of account this way.
- You know the date of any dividend, gain, capital purchase or sale, or donation, so you can confirm which return it belongs to.
Do not use it if
- You have prepared your own figures for each CT600, for example from actual transactions in each period.Use instead: Enter figures separately
- HMRC already has your first CT600 with the full accounts, and only the second is outstanding.Use instead: File only the remaining CT600
- The company was dormant at first and HMRC’s Corporation Tax period starts when trading began.Use instead: Dormant at first, then trading
Common mistake: entering only the first 12 months' figures
Your CT603 notice may show only the first return, so it is easy to enter figures for those 12 months. This choice treats whatever you enter as the whole period's figures and shares them across both returns. The months after the first return are then left out of both returns and out of your accounts.
First 12 months’ figures entered
- Profit entered
- £36,500
- Return 1 profit
- £29,152
- Return 2 profit
- £7,348
- Corporation Tax for both returns
- £6,935
Whole period’s figures entered
- Profit entered
- £45,700
- Return 1 profit
- £36,500
- Return 2 profit
- £9,200
- Corporation Tax for both returns
- £8,683
Enter the totals for the whole accounts period, from 1 July 2024 to 30 September 2025 in this example. The wizard does the division.
Why there are two returns
A Corporation Tax return can only cover up to 12 months. When your accounts cover a longer period, HMRC needs one return for the first 12 months and a second for the rest. Companies House still receives one set of accounts for the whole period. This often happens in a company's first year, or when a year end is moved later. Your first year: filing when your accounting period is over 12 months
How the sharing works
You enter one set of figures for the whole period, and we divide each total between the two returns in proportion to their length in days. We do not ask for the date of each transaction, so the split follows the calendar rather than your bank statement. For Chestnut Example Ltd:
- Return 1
- 1 July 2024 to 30 June 2025: 365 days, profit £36,500
- Return 2
- 1 July 2025 to 30 September 2025: 92 days, profit £9,200
- Whole period
- 457 days, profit £45,700
The company and all figures on this page are fictional.
This is not a shortcut of ours. For a long period of accounts, HMRC's Company Taxation Manual at CTM01405 says apportionment is usually on a time basis. It also accepts working out each period's profit from the transactions in that period where this gives a more accurate result. If you have prepared figures on that basis, choose Enter figures separately instead. When actual figures can be used
The day counts follow the return dates shown on Company Profile & Period. If HMRC's first return ends on a different day, change First CT600 ends first, and the shares follow the new dates. Match your two CT600 dates to HMRC
When the split changes the tax
For many companies the method changes nothing except which return shows the amounts. In the example below, both returns are taxed at 19%, so moving profit from one return to the other would not change the total.
The split can matter in two situations. One return shows a taxable profit while the other shows a loss. Or a return's profit is near its profit limits, which are reduced for a return shorter than 12 months. A loss in the first return is carried into the second return automatically, because they are consecutive accounting periods of the same company. Review both computations before filing.
More help: GOV.UK: Corporation Tax rates · Marginal relief explained
Worked example
- Company
- Chestnut Example Ltd
- Previous accounts
- Ended 30 June 2024
- This accounts period
- 1 July 2024 to 30 September 2025 (457 days), after the year end moved to 30 September
- First CT600
- 1 July 2024 to 30 June 2025. Not filed yet
- Second CT600
- 1 July 2025 to 30 September 2025. Not filed yet
- Figures for the whole period
- Turnover £120,000, staff costs £48,000, other charges £26,300
The company and all figures on this page are fictional.
Before you start
- Your accounts
- The profit and loss and balance sheet for the whole accounts period.
- Both return dates
- Check them in your HMRC business tax account or CT603 notice. Matching your dates to HMRC
- Dates of one-off amounts
- The date of each dividend received, gain, capital purchase or sale and donation, so you can place it in the right return.
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 July 2024 to 30 September 2025For a period that is not the company's first, a note headed Extended accounting period. confirms that two returns will be prepared.
- Special tax regimes
- No
- What are you filing?
- HMRC CT600, or Companies House & HMRC CT600 if the accounts also go to Companies House
- Filing purpose
- Standard return
- My HMRC Corporation Tax period is different from my statutory accounts period.
- Leave unticked
- Change CT600 split date
- Leave as shownThe dates show the two returns. Open it only if HMRC’s first return ends on a different day.
- Trading status
- ActiveThe form starts on Dormant, so make sure you change it. The figure choice below appears only after you choose Active.
- How do you want to enter your figures?
- Enter my figures once
- What the company does
- Trading
Click Next →.
Financial Data
Enter the totals for the whole accounts period.
- 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
- 120000Box 145
- Cost of raw materials and consumables
- 0
- Staff costs
- 48000
- Other charges
- 26300
- Company tax type
- Standard companyFor a long period one company tax type applies to both returns.
- Balance sheet
- Your balance sheet at the end of the accounts period
- Average number of employees
- Your average number, or 0
If you enter a dividend, gain, capital allowance or donation, its allocation panel appears beside it. Confirm each one, then click Next →.
More help: Completing the allocation panels
Review & file
The Corporation tax due card shows the total for both returns. For Chestnut Example Ltd:
Corporation tax due£8,683 .00On taxable total profits of £45,700 at 19.0% · small profits- Optional
- Click Preview your documents (free) to check both returns first
- 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
Click Submit to HMRC, or Submit to HMRC & Companies House.
Amounts that are not shared by days
The day split does not replace the allocation controls for donations, dividends received, gains, current capital losses or qualifying pre-trading expenditure. Capital allowances and balancing charges also use an allocation panel. An allowance belongs to the return covering the day you bought the asset, so day counting is the wrong way to place it. The allocation checklist links to each entry guide.
Structures and buildings allowance is different again. It uses the dates and costs you enter from the allowance statement to work out each return's amount. Structures and buildings allowance
Amounts that belong to one date: the allocation panels
Each panel sits directly under the figure it divides and shows both return dates. The suggestion is a starting point only. Nothing is used until you confirm it. Put each amount in the return whose dates cover the day it happened. The two boxes must add up to the total.
- Dividends received
- In Profit & loss, click + Add dividends received from another company and enter the total in Dividends received. The panel Dividends across your two returns suggests a split by days. Change it to match the dates the dividends were received, then click Confirm this division. Dividends received
- Gains and capital losses
- In Tax adjustments, click + Show all adjustment options, then + Add a capital gain (sold a property or investment), and enter the gain in Chargeable gains (gross). The panel Gains and capital losses across your two returns suggests a split by days for a gain and puts a capital loss wholly in return 1. Change either to match the date of the disposal, then click Confirm this division. A loss from a disposal in return 2 cannot reduce a gain in return 1. Gains and losses
- Capital allowances
- Enter the claim in Tax adjustments, for example Annual Investment Allowance claimed. The panel Divide your capital amounts between your two tax returns appears under it. Enter the amount for each return, or use Reset to the suggested day split or Put everything in the first return, then click Confirm this split. The Annual Investment Allowance limit is reduced for a return shorter than 12 months, and the panel shows each return's limit. Capital allowances
- Charitable donations
- The panel Tell us which tax return your charitable donation belongs to puts the whole donation in the first return to start with. Move any part paid after the first return ended, then click Confirm this split. Donations
The company and all figures on this page are fictional.
Example. Chestnut Example Ltd buys a van on 10 March 2025, which falls in return 1. It enters the whole allowance in the Return 1 column and 0 in the Return 2 column, then clicks Confirm this split. A dividend received on 15 August 2025 falls in return 2, so the whole dividend goes in the Return 2 column. These two amounts are illustrations only and are not part of the tax figures on this page.
If you change the accounting period, the Corporation Tax dates or First CT600 ends, the panels ask you to confirm again, because the returns now cover different dates.
The company was dormant at first. If it was dormant at the start of the accounts period and started trading later, check your CT603 notice. Where HMRC's records show Corporation Tax starting at the trading date, it expects one return rather than two, and there is nothing to split. Read dormant at first, then trading and use the separate Corporation Tax period option.
The day split does not suit your figures overall. Choose Enter figures separately and enter the prepared amounts for each CT600. Do not file the same period twice to get a different split. The conditions for using actual figures
Sample outcome
Does time apportionment apply to an unincorporated club?
Yes, the ordinary Corporation Tax period rules also cover an unincorporated members club within the charge to Corporation Tax. HMRC's tax definition of a company includes unincorporated associations. See CTM00510. Accounts covering 18 months of continuous Corporation Tax activity normally need two CT600 returns, because a tax accounting period cannot exceed 12 months. See CTM01510.
For ordinary trading profits, time apportionment is the usual approach described in CTM01405 above. For example, 1 April 2024 to 30 September 2025 contains 548 days. A £54,800 recurring income total divides into £36,500 for the first 365 days and £18,300 for the remaining 183 days. Separate rules can determine the period for a relief or event, so this is not a rule to divide every return box by days.
This section explains ordinary taxable club returns. It does not determine a CASC's exemption claim or its CT600E disclosures. When the club option is available, follow the club filing guide for ordinary clubs and full, partial or no-claim CASC returns.
Not the right option?
Open the guide for the choice that matches your figures.
Looking for a different field or step? See all filing wizard guides →
Official sources
- HMRC CTM01405: time apportionment
- HMRC CTM01510: accounts covering more than 12 months
- HMRC CTM00510: unincorporated associations
- GOV.UK: Accounting periods for Corporation Tax
- GOV.UK: Corporation Tax rates
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.