complianceInstitute of Financial Accountants (IFA)

Corporation Tax Services for Glasgow Limited Companies

Corporation tax is charged on your limited company's profits. For 2026/27 the small profits rate is 19% on profits up to £50,000 and the main rate is 25% on profits above £250,000, with marginal relief in between. QA FinTax prepares and files your CT600 and plans ahead so the bill is smaller.

Filing a corporation tax return is compliance. Reducing what it says you owe is planning — and planning only works before your year end, not after it. Once your accounting period closes, most of the levers have gone. We review your position during the year, while you can still act on capital purchases, pension contributions and remuneration, rather than handing you a bill in month eleven and wishing you luck.

Call +44 7768 911170
corporation tax Glasgow — Corporation Tax & Planning from QA FinTax, Glasgow

What Our Corporation Tax & Planning Service Includes

  • CT600 corporation tax return prepared and filed with HMRC
  • Taxable profit computed after every allowable deduction
  • Capital allowances and full expensing claimed in full
  • R&D tax relief assessed and claimed where you qualify
  • Salary and dividend split modelled for the director
  • HMRC enquiry support if your return is questioned

What Are the Corporation Tax Rates for 2026/27?

There are two headline rates and an awkward band in the middle. If your profits fall between £50,000 and £250,000 you pay the 25% main rate reduced by marginal relief — which produces an effective rate of 26.5% on every pound earned inside that band, higher than the headline main rate itself.

UK corporation tax rates for the 2026/27 tax year
Taxable profitsRate
Up to £50,00019% — small profits rate
£50,001 to £250,00025% less marginal relief — an effective 26.5% on profits in this band
Over £250,00025% — main rate
The £50,000 and £250,000 thresholds are divided by the number of associated companies under common control. Two associated companies halve them to £25,000 and £125,000 — which can quietly push you into a higher rate.

When Is Corporation Tax Due?

The single most common mistake we see is assuming the payment is due when the return is due. It is not. You must pay your corporation tax roughly three months before you have to file the return that calculates it.

Corporation tax deadlines
ObligationDeadline
Pay your corporation tax9 months and 1 day after your accounting period ends
File your CT600 return12 months after your accounting period ends
Large companies (profits over £1.5m)Quarterly instalment payments apply
HMRC charges interest on tax paid late, running from the day after the payment deadline.

How Do We Legally Reduce Your Corporation Tax Bill?

There is no secret scheme, and anyone selling you one should be avoided. What works is the disciplined use of the reliefs Parliament actually legislated for — claimed properly, evidenced properly, and timed properly.

  • Claiming every allowable business expense, including the ones owners routinely forget
  • Full expensing and the Annual Investment Allowance on qualifying plant and machinery
  • Employer pension contributions, which are deductible against company profits
  • R&D tax relief if you are resolving genuine technical uncertainty
  • Trading losses carried back to reclaim tax already paid, or carried forward
  • Modelling the salary and dividend split rather than defaulting to last year's
  • Timing income and expenditure around the £50,000 and £250,000 thresholds

Why Marginal Relief Matters If You Earn Between £50k and £250k

Inside the marginal relief band, every extra pound of profit is taxed at an effective 26.5%. The flip side is that every pound of deductible expenditure saves you 26.5p, not 19p. That changes the maths on buying equipment, making a pension contribution, or bringing a cost forward into this year. For a lot of Glasgow SMEs sitting in this band, timing is worth more than any other single decision.

Corporation Tax & Planning in Glasgow — Frequently Asked Questions

The small profits rate is 19% on profits up to £50,000 and the main rate is 25% on profits above £250,000. Between those figures you pay the main rate less marginal relief, which works out at an effective 26.5% on profits within the band.
Payment is due 9 months and 1 day after the end of your accounting period. The CT600 return itself is not due until 12 months after your year end, so the money must be paid before the return that calculates it has to be filed.
Marginal relief tapers the gap between the 19% and 25% rates for companies with profits between £50,000 and £250,000. It applies automatically if your profits fall in that band. The practical effect is an effective 26.5% rate on profits inside it, so deductible spending is unusually valuable.
HMRC charges £100 immediately, and another £100 if you are still more than three months late. At six months HMRC estimates your bill and adds a penalty of 10% of the unpaid tax, with a further 10% at twelve months. Interest runs on the tax itself from the payment deadline.
Yes. Employer pension contributions are normally an allowable deduction against company profits in the accounting period they are paid, provided they meet the "wholly and exclusively" test. For a director in the marginal relief band this is one of the more efficient ways to extract value from the company.
You can file a CT600 yourself. Whether you should is a different question: the return has to be filed in iXBRL format alongside your statutory accounts, and the reliefs that reduce the bill — capital allowances, R&D, loss relief — are the parts people most often miss. The fee is usually smaller than the relief.
If you control more than one company, the £50,000 and £250,000 thresholds are divided between them. Two associated companies means the small profits rate only applies up to £25,000 each. Business owners with a second company — even a dormant or property one — are often caught by this without realising.

Official sources

Rates and thresholds are stated for the 2026/27 UK tax year and are for general guidance only. They are not a substitute for advice on your own circumstances.

Ready to get started with corporation tax & planning?

Book a free 15-minute review with a Glasgow adviser. We will tell you exactly what you need and what it will cost — before you commit to anything.

Related Services in Glasgow

Need help? Ask QA Assistant