Why do I have two Corporation Tax Returns to sign?

HMRC will not accept a Corporation Tax Return for a period longer than 12 months. If your accounting period is longer than 12 months you may be therefore asked to submit two Corporation Tax Returns to cover the entire period and bring the next Corporation Tax Return into line with the company financial year end.

Commonly this happens in the first year of trading because usually a company is incorporated mid month and their financial year is set to the end of the month.

For example a company incorporated on 12th March 2021 will have a year end of 31st March. The accounting period for their first year of trading will therefore be 12th March 2021 to 31st March 2022. This being a period longer than 12 months two Corporation Tax Returns are required.