Corporation tax payment reference format

[Lumiere]

I have a client with a reference 02 and it is their first year of trading

mine does not match either, I guess it may relate to calendar months rather than years

[Scrag Meister]

Cheers, another confirmation of the above format.

Still wonder why different advisers give different period codes (09) and (05), is your year end 31 Dec by any chance? I assume they just increment it for every month ..

No, End of May

It's incremented for each accounting period - so in theory, as long your first trading period was a year or less and you've not extended your year end at any point, the 05 should relate to the fact that you're in your 5th trading year.

No, mine was incorporated in 2007 and this is my 3rd year end.

[SallyPlanIT]

Is it 02 because their first year is a long period? Unless the company was incorporated on the 1st of the month then they would need 2 CT returns to cover that first 'year'.

For example a company set up on 29 July 2010 would have:

29 July 2010 - 28 July 2011 - period 01
29 July 2011 - 31 July 2011 - period 02

Or perhaps a dormant period for those first days if it didn't start to trade until 01 August.

No, it was incorporated 7th April 2009, period not extended or shortened. Will check in the reference checker. Thanks Clare

[Lumiere]

No, it was incorporated 7th April 2009, period not extended or shortened. Will check in the reference checker. Thanks Clare

Don't think the checker checks period codes, would accept any in my case

[Clare@InTouch]

No, it was incorporated 7th April 2009, period not extended or shortened. Will check in the reference checker. Thanks Clare

No worries - that does make sense though:

Period 1 - 07 April 2009 to 06 April 2010
Period 2 - 07 April 2010 to 30 April 2010

Both covered by the accounts for the entire period 07 April 2009 to 30 April 2010.

HMRC define an accounting period as:

Your company or organisation's Corporation Tax accounting period is normally 12 months long. This accounting period normally matches your company's 12 month financial year. But in some instances your Corporation Tax accounting period won't be the same as your company's financial year if for example:

•your accounts cover a period of more than 12 months - such as if your newly-formed company is preparing its first accounts to cover a period of more than 12 months, or your existing company changes its financial year end
•your company has been dormant and once again starts to carry on business activity, your Corporation Tax accounting period may start on a different day from the start of your financial year

And then the online payment detail state that the two numbers relate to your "company accounting period"