For companies with straightforward tax affairs, Corporation Tax is payable based on the profits reported in their annual accounts each year, due nine months and one day after the end of the financial period. For example, for a 31 December 2025 year-end, payment is due by 1 October 2026.

Companies with higher profits may be required to pay their tax liability by quarterly instalments, starting 6 months and 13 days after the start of the financial period. For example, a first payment on 14 July 2025 for a 31 December 2025 year-end. The largest companies have even earlier instalment due dates.

Various other taxes such as VAT, PAYE and Stamp Duty have their own payment regimes, which we can provide specific guidance on where relevant.

When you engage DSG to deal with your tax return preparation, our team of experts will review your specific circumstances to identify opportunities to reduce or defer your tax liability. These will typically be uncontroversial with HMRC and could include, for example:

• For individuals: relief on pension contributions, marriage allowance, gift aid, trading/property allowance; Business Asset Disposal Relief for those selling a business
• For companies: capital allowances, research and development tax relief, group loss planning, marginal relief.

While the majority of our clients will never experience HMRC asking any questions about their tax position, any individual or business can be subject to an enquiry from HMRC into their affairs, regardless of whether you have filed your tax returns and paid your tax liabilities on time. HMRC enquiries may be prompted by changes to your reported income, the type of business you run or information received from other parties, including banks and online platforms such as eBay and Airbnb. In addition, random enquiries can and do happen.

DSG can help you to navigate any HMRC enquiry into your affairs and will engage with HMRC on your behalf to ensure that any enquiry is resolved as quickly and smoothly as possible.

To provide you with peace of mind regarding additional accountancy fees for dealing with HMRC enquiries, DSG offers a fee protection service which will cover our fees in the event of an enquiry, in return for payment of a tailored annual premium.

We will provide you with a payroll input sheet tailored to your business requirements, so you can advise of any changes each pay period. In addition, we also provide a timetable so you are aware when to submit your changes and when to expect your payroll reports back so you can plan accordingly. Once you have approved the payroll, we will finalise and submit your RTI returns to HMRC and issue payslips to employees via a secure online portal. We can also pay the salaries directly to your employees by BACS if required.

Our teams typically use cloud-based software platforms such as Xero, QuickBooks and Sage Online. We typically use these because they are user friendly and are approved by HMRC for making tax digital (MTD). All platforms offer bank feeds to provide real-time information making collaboration with our clients much easier.

We can provide various reporting methods for your business such as Profit and Loss Statement to enable clients to track revenue, costs and profit. Balance Sheet to show assets, liabilities, and equity at any reporting date. Cash flow statements to monitor cash inflows and outflows. Aged receivables and payables to track what is owed to the business from customers and what the business owes it’s suppliers. Budgets vs Actuals for tracking performance and measuring against goals.