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Corporation tax accounting period different to that in statutory accounts

Extended accounting period

General
An accounting period for corporation tax purposes is normally the same as for a company's statutory accounts. However, there are circumstances when they are different. For instance when:

• trade commenced during the year; or when
• a company extends its accounting period (and it is more than one year).

More precise details can be found at the top of page 4 in the HMRC publication Company tax return form guide.

Tax computation in a separate workbook
When the CT accounting period is not the same as the accounts, the corporation tax computation must be prepared in a separate workbook to the accounts. This is because the dates in the tax computation can only be entered via the Workbook Properties dialog. You will get an error message when you generate the tax computation iXBRL file if you overwrite the dates directly in the tax computation. You only need to complete the tax computation in the separate workbook. There is no need to replicate the accounts. To create a separate workbook:

• Click the New Accounts Workbook button (first button on the VT toolbar)
• Choose the same workbook type as the workbook containing the accounts
• Click OK
• In the Workbook Properties dialog, enter the name of the company, the dates of the period covered by the tax return (not the statutory accounts) and the tax reference
• Enter all other data directly onto the TaxCompData sheet, overwriting formulas in cells for amounts that are normally obtained from the accounts (there is no need to complete the accounts)
• Save the workbook with a different file name to the accounts

Extended accounting period
Two tax returns and tax computations are normally completed when a company's accounting period has been extended and exceeds 12 months. The first is for the first 12 months of the period and the second for the remainder. Numbers such as profit per the accounts can be apportioned between the returns on a time basis. Two additional workbooks need to be created for the two tax computations (see above). The same set of statutory accounts should be attached to both tax returns (there is no check in iXBRL that the period and profit in the accounts match the tax return/computation).