I am pretty confused about Corporation Tax filing. Our company is dormant, it didnt do any business in the last 2 years. We received a notification to deliver corporation tax filing, so sent an online notification through hmrc’s webpage of no payment due. Still we received a penalty for not filing. Now I just can’t find a way to file a corporation tax return with nil value. If I understand right from what I read on the government gateway registration form I shouldn’t register under corporation tax if I have nothing to pay, but then I cant file the nil value return either.
So how do I do this properly, without having to pay hundreds of pounds for an accountant for entering a zero? Somewhere deep in the web I remember seeing a QuickFile corporation tax filing advertisement for 20 pounds or so, but now I can’t find it.
Firstly you shouldn’t need to pay an accountant for dormant company filings. What I have done in the past is as follows:
File the Dormant Company Accounts (DCA) with Companies House. This can be done via their web-filing interface.
You should receive a request to file a tax return from HMRC with a perforated payment slip. On the payment slip enter “NIL” and mention on there that the company is “DORMANT”. Take a copy of this slip and return it to HMRC.
I would certainly appeal the penalty determination, it should be reversed if you explain the situation. I had a similar situation earlier this year, I sent HMRC a copy of the payment slip marked NIL with a covering letter. Around 1 month later they sent me a new statement showing a zero balance.
If you have any evidence of prior correspondence stating that the company is dormant that should suffice.