How to file a CT600 after your company stops trading

1. Enter the later return

Before you start, prepare the full statutory accounts, cessation date, later return dates, interest and any post-cessation receipts and qualifying deductions. A Corporation Tax period ends when the trade ceases. The next begins the following day if the company remains within the charge.

1. On Company & period, enter the statutory accounts dates and select My HMRC Corporation Tax period is different from my statutory accounts periodfor the later return. A final trading return ends at cessation. A separate original filing can cover the later period in the same accounts year.
2. If the accounts include earlier trading, under How do you want to enter your figures? choose Enter figures separately. Enter full accounts on Companies House accounts and the later return figures on its dated CT600 tab. Confirm the HMRC dates. The no-earlier-activity question is not asked in this mode.
3. Enter Interest receivable and similar income, running costs and any qualifying management expenses in their own fields.
4. In Profit & loss, open Show all Profit & Loss options above or below the table. Enter Post-cessation receipts and Post-cessation deductions separately. The help icons explain the qualifying receipts and section 196 deduction. These optional rows start hidden and stay visible when they contain figures or errors. Keep the receipt out of Income not falling under any other heading, which is for ordinary other income.
5. Choose Company tax type once for the whole filing, on the Return 1 tab (CT600 1) in separate-figures mode. Return 2 shows the same choice, locked. Select Close investment-holding company if the purpose test applies to both returns. This service cannot file returns whose company type differs between them. For a long accounts period, use First CT600 ends to end return 1 on cessation. Mark cessation in return 1 and enter the later figures in return 2.
6. Review each CT600 and computation before approving. An amendment keeps the original dates and figure-entry mode, with the treatment and figures editable.

A later accounts period of its own with one CT600 can use enter-once figures. A two-return filing with trading followed by no trade needs separate CT600 figures. Each tab takes your prepared figures directly, so whole-period allocation panels do not apply. In enter-once mode with two returns, use the allocation panel beneath Post-cessation deductions to allocate each amount to the relevant return. The two amounts must add up to the total. Confirm the allocation before continuing.

For example, a fictional 15-month accounts period may have trading until 31 December followed by three months of interest and a receipt. Enter the trading amounts on CT600 1 and later amounts on CT600 2. Mark cessation in CT600 1 so its unused trading loss does not carry into CT600 2.

2. Check the later computation

Interest belongs in box 170 and the net post-cessation receipt in box 205. Check boxes 235 and 315, no phantom trading profit or loss, and code 2 with the full rate where CIHC was selected. A deduction above the receipt gives £0 and an information notice. Opening the optional fields keeps turnover and its trading treatment unchanged. Enter each receipt once. Post-cessation deductions reduce only the post-cessation receipt. If the return has no trade or property business, select No trade or property business in this return beside the other checkboxes at the bottom. In separate figures mode, it is below that return’s tax adjustments. Selecting it keeps running costs in the accounts but prevents a trading loss and automatic use of brought-forward trading losses. Property losses are not used or carried forward. The help tooltip explains the treatment. The same tooltip points you to Show all Profit & Loss options for post-cessation receipts. Only compact clear actions appear below when saved figures need attention. Existing entered income or capital figures need your explicit choice to clear them or untick the checkbox.

Read the receipt rules and section 198 election limitation before filing. The service does not make that election.

Official sources

• HMRC BIM90095, post-cessation deductions
• CTA 2009 s.10, end of an accounting period
• HMRC CTM04115, ceased-trade losses
• HMRC Company Tax Return guide, boxes 4 and 205