Filing CT600 for a Charitable Company

TinyTax supports CT600 + CT600E filing to HMRC for UK limited companies that are registered charities, including companies limited by guarantee registered with the Charity Commission (England & Wales, Scotland, or Northern Ireland). The charity-specific CT600E supplement is generated automatically and the charitable exemption is applied so the tax due is £0.

Important: Statutory Accounts at Companies House

Charities cannot file their Companies House statutory accounts through TinyTax. UK charities are required to apply the Charities SORP (Statement of Recommended Practice) when preparing CH accounts — a Statement of Financial Activities (SoFA) in place of a standard P&L, a trustees' annual report, and disclosures for restricted / unrestricted / endowment funds. TinyTax generates standard FRS 105 micro-entity or FRS 102 Section 1A small-company accounts and does not include the SORP layer, so our accounts output is not a valid charity filing for Companies House.

Once you tick the charity opt-in box on your filing, TinyTax blocks the Companies House accounts path automatically — only CT600 (HMRC) remains selectable, with an on-screen explanation pointing you at SORP-capable software for the CH side.

Practical path for a charitable company:

1. CT600 + CT600E to HMRC — file through TinyTax.
2. Statutory accounts to Companies House — file via SORP-capable software (for example Xero with the Charities SORP module, IRIS, Sage Charity), or via an accountant who prepares SORP accounts.

How the Charity Flag Works

For companies limited by guarantee and other charitable limited companies, the charity status is user-declared — you tick the "this is a registered charity claiming tax exemption" box during setup. Once ticked, TinyTax generates the CT600E supplement, applies the charitable exemption automatically (£0 corporation tax due), and clamps the filing to CT600 only.

For charitable incorporated organisations (CIOs and SCIOs), which are always charities by entity type, the charity flow is applied automatically without an opt-in — they don't have a Companies House obligation in the first place.

Why There's No Prior-Year Column on the Charity Income & Expenditure Form

When a company is flagged as a charity, the standard Profit & Loss form is replaced with a simplified Charity Income & Expenditure section. This section is shaped for the CT600E supplement to HMRC (which captures current-year figures only), not for SORP-compliant comparative accounts — so there is no prior-year column in this part of the form.

If you need comparative I&E figures in your statutory accounts, you'll need SORP-capable software for the CH filing (see above).

What to Enter for the CT600

Enter your charity's current-year income and expenditure in the Charity Income & Expenditure section. The categories follow the SoFA shape used in CT600E — Charitable trading income, Investment income, Property income, Donations / legacies / other income, plus charitable expenditure totals. The figures flow into the CT600 return and the CT600E supplement.

For the balance sheet, enter assets and liabilities as at the period end. Prior-year balance sheet figures are optional but useful if you have them.

Supported Company Types

TinyTax is designed for UK limited companies. The organisations that can file their CT600 through TinyTax include:

• Companies limited by guarantee registered with the Charity Commission — CT600 + CT600E only; file CH accounts via SORP-capable software
• Companies limited by shares with charitable status — CT600 + CT600E only; file CH accounts via SORP-capable software
• Community Interest Companies (CICs) — these are not charities (CICs have a separate regulator and do not use SORP); CT600 + CH accounts are both supported through TinyTax

If your organisation is an unincorporated association, a charitable incorporated organisation (CIO), or a registered society, different filing requirements apply. CIOs file their accounts with the Charity Commission directly, not Companies House. Unincorporated associations do not file at Companies House at all. Please check with HMRC or the Charity Commission for the requirements specific to your organisation type.

Common Questions

Do I need to file a CT600 if HMRC has confirmed I am exempt?

It depends on what your exemption covers. HMRC sometimes issues a formal notice that no corporation tax return is due (common for very small or dormant charities). If you have received such a notice, you may not need to file a CT600 at all. TinyTax only handles the CT600 side of charity filings — you would still need to file your statutory accounts at Companies House via SORP-capable software (not through TinyTax).

If HMRC has confirmed the charitable exemption (tax is £0) but has not excused you from filing a return, you should still submit the CT600 through TinyTax.

When in doubt, contact HMRC on 0300 200 3410 to confirm whether a CT600 is required for your accounting period.

My charity has no income and no assets — what do I enter?

Enter zeros throughout. TinyTax handles nil CT600 returns for charitable companies in the same way as any other filing.

Should I use the Dormant or Trading option?

If your charitable company had any income or expenditure during the period (even a small amount), select Trading. If it had absolutely no financial activity and no assets or liabilities, Dormant may be appropriate — but confirm with your accountant or HMRC first, as HMRC defines dormancy strictly.

My charitable trading activity made a loss — what should I enter?

The "Charitable trading income" field must be a positive (non-negative) figure — HMRC's schema rejects negative values in income boxes, and entering a figure like -48 to represent a net loss will cause HMRC to reject the submission with a message that the figure is "too small".

For a period where charitable trading activity ran at a loss:

• Set "Charitable trading income" to £0 — this field captures gross trading income, not the net result
• Enter your costs in the expenditure section — use "Charitable activities expenditure" or "Other expenditure" as appropriate

The net deficit is shown automatically: your expenditure total will exceed your income total on the CT600E.

If your trading had some income alongside higher costs (for example, you earned £100 but spent £148, giving a -£48 net figure), enter the gross income (£100) in "Charitable trading income" and the gross costs (£148) in the relevant expenditure field.