Corporation Tax: Exemptions

(asked on 5th February 2018) - View Source

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether a standard period of exemption from filing corporation tax returns was granted to companies which claimed to be dormant in the tax years (a) 2012-13, (b) 2013-14, (c) 2014-15, (d) 2015-16 and () 2016-17; and for what reasons that period of exemption was chosen.


Answered by
Mel Stride Portrait
Mel Stride
Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
This question was answered on 13th February 2018

All companies that are on the Register of Companies are automatically registered for Corporation Tax at HMRC by virtue of a daily data feed from Companies House to HMRC.

The numbers registered for each year were:-

2012-13

486,512

2013-14

536,534

2014-15

588,741

2015-16

614,332

2016-17

648,632

Companies are required by law (Section 55 Finance Act 2004) to notify HMRC when they come within the charge to the tax and there is a penalty for failure to do so (Paragraph 2 Schedule 18 Finance Act 1998).

A company must deliver a return if it receives a notice from HMRC requiring it to do so.

HMRC issues notices to companies that it believes to be active, and thus within the charge to the tax because they are active. A company must inform HMRC if it has become chargeable to corporation tax but has not received a notice requiring it to deliver a return. The period for which a company might not be active depends on the circumstances of the company. HMRC reviews companies treated as inactive on a risk basis.

Where HMRC suspects that a company that was treated as inactive has come within the charge to Corporation Tax but has not informed HMRC, a notice requiring a return to be delivered is sent to the company.

HMRC does not keep a central record of how many notices requiring a return are sent in such cases.

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