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Long Period Of Accounting LPOA

As specified in the HMRC guidance, accounting period for Corporation Tax can only be for a period up to 12 months. Therefore in circumstances where a company has a financial year (accounts) for a longer period, the Company will have to submit multiple CT600 returns to cover that long period of accounts. To comply with this CT600 requirements, Andica software will only allow you to set up each CT accounting period for up to 12 months.

In this case, customers will have to create two accounting periods in correct chronological order. HMRC will most likely have provided the company with dates for accounting period for CT600 returns. One CT600 period is likely to be for 12 months and the other CT600 for a shorter period.

Although Andica CT600 software is licensed for processing one return per company, with our current version of CT600 we have a special free feature whereby you can process CT600 returns for the two accounting periods for a Company up to 31st March of the licence you have purchased on a single installation. For example, version 2022 software supports accounting periods up to and including 31 March 2023, so this can include a complete long period of accounting that ended on any dates up to that date. (Andica reserves the rights to remove this free feature at any time. Thereafter customers will have to purchase appropriate number of licenses to allow additional returns).

In line with CT600 accounting period, the software's free basic in-built iXBRL conversion feature for Accounts and Computations also supports a period of up to 12 month accounting period so as to be able to validate some data items. The iXBRL attachment feature can be used to attach Accounts and Computations iXBRL tagged through an accounts production software or tagging service, this iXBRL file can be for any relevant accounting period.

Where your accounting period is longer than 12 months and you wish to use the software's free in-built iXBRL feature for Accounts and Computations feature, there are a couple of possible work-around that you could use, but you will need to check this with the HMRC first to see if they would accept it:

  1. Either split the Accounts and Computations for relevant periods based on the dates you have provided in CT600, or,
  2. In Accounts, accept the dates of accounts as shown (i.e. as per CT600 accounting periods) and provide complete accounts values as you want to and provide a note to HMRC to explain what you have done.

When entering values you may get some data validation messages which tries to match values in Accounts and Computations section with values in CT600 forms, you can ignore those messages as long as you are happy with the values you have reported.

Software will convert and submit your Accounts and Computations entries in iXBRL along with the CT600.

Alternatively, if you already have your Accounts and Computations for a period longer than 12 months pre-tagged in iXBRL format using a third party accounts production software or a tagging service, you can simply attach and submit them with the CT600 returns.


Disclaimer: We cannot advise on how you should complete your tax returns or how the taxes are calculated. Information provided here is given without any obligations and we will not accept any claims or liabilities for any damages as a result of you relying on the information given here, if in doubt you must consult the HMRC Online Services Helpdesk on 0300 200 3600.

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