Corporation Tax in Your Accounts: Where It Appears in the Profit and Loss
Corporation tax is shown as a separate line in your accounts — it is not an expense. Your P&L in TinyTax is structured like this:
| Row | Notes |
|---|---|
| Turnover | Your income |
| Expenses | Trading costs (wages, materials, overheads — not tax) |
| Profit before tax | Calculated automatically |
| Tax on profit | Calculated automatically from your CT600 |
| Profit after tax | Calculated automatically |
Do not enter corporation tax in the expenses section
If you include corporation tax as an expense, it will reduce your "Profit before tax" figure — but "Profit before tax" should show your profit before tax is deducted. HMRC and Companies House expect the tax charge to appear only on the "Tax on profit" line.
How TinyTax fills in the Tax on profit line
TinyTax calculates corporation tax automatically from the figures you enter into the CT600 section (turnover, expenses, capital allowances, etc.). Once the tax is calculated, it is applied to the "Tax on profit" row in the P&L automatically — you do not need to type it in.
If you see the row is blank when you first open the form, it will update once you have entered your income and expenses and the form has had a chance to calculate.
What about the comparative (prior year) column?
The prior-year column in your accounts has its own "Tax on profit" field for last year's corporation tax charge. If you are filing for the first time with TinyTax, you may need to enter last year's tax charge manually in this field. It is labelled Tax on profit (prior year) and appears below "Profit before tax (prior year)" — enter it there, not in the expenses column.
If last year's CT was nil (for example, the company was dormant or made a loss), you can leave the prior-year tax field blank or enter 0.
Common Questions
Can I enter a corporation tax accrual as an expense?
No. Corporation tax is not deductible against itself for accounting purposes. Leave expenses as your trading costs only, and let TinyTax handle the tax line.
The Tax on profit row shows a different amount than I expected
The amount is calculated from your taxable profit after any adjustments (capital allowances, disallowable expenses, losses brought forward). Review your CT600 tax computation section if you want to see the breakdown.
Was this guide helpful?
Thanks for your feedback!