SimpleReturns

Company tax returns for events and wedding businesses

Reviewed by Lee Jones, Founder · Updated 17 July 2026
The short answer

If you run weddings, parties or events through a limited company, whether you plan them, manage them, hire out marquees and kit, or run a mobile bar, the filing job is the same as for every company in the country: a Company Tax Return to HMRC and a set of accounts to Companies House, even in a year you made a loss. Your version of it has three special features: money for next year's weddings often arrives this year, your biggest one-off costs are kit like marquees, PA systems and lighting, and the classic trap in this trade is entertaining, because free hospitality to win clients is not claimable.

Official source. This guide is a plain-English summary of official GOV.UK guidance, not advice. The authoritative source is Company Tax Returns on gov.uk. Always rely on that over our summary.

What counts as your company's income?

Everything clients pay your company: planning and management fees, package prices, day rates, hire charges for marquees, furniture and kit, bar takings, and any commission a venue, photographer or caterer pays you for sending work their way. If it was paid to the company, it is the company's income.

Deposits are the bit that catches this trade out. Say a couple books you in October for a wedding next August and pays a £1,000 deposit. The cash is in this year's bank statement, but under normal company accounting, income belongs to the year you actually do the work, not the year the money arrives. Until the wedding happens, that £1,000 counts as money received but not yet earned. So money in the bank this year and income for tax this year are not automatically the same thing. If a big slice of your bank balance is deposits for next season, say so when you file, or ask an accountant to check the year-end position.

One more money-in point for a seasonal trade. If your company's taxable takings go over £90,000 across any rolling 12 months, it must register for VAT. Rolling is the word that matters: the test is not your accounting year or the calendar year, so a huge May-to-September wedding season followed by a dead winter can still carry you over the line. Check the running 12-month total monthly, not just at year end.

Your Corporation Tax is then worked out on the profit. Small companies pay 19% on profits up to £50,000, and bigger profits move towards 25%.

What can your company claim?

The rule behind every cost is simple: it has to be for the business. For an events or wedding company the usual list looks like this:

  • Kit you buy: marquees, PA systems, lighting rigs, staging, furniture. These count as equipment, and an allowance lets the company claim the full cost against its profit in the year you buy them, up to a very high yearly limit.
  • Venue and kit hire you pass on to the client. If you book a £2,000 venue or hire in a dance floor and charge the client for it, record both sides in full: what the client paid you is income, what you paid the supplier is a cost. Do not quietly cancel them against each other.
  • Stock for the mobile bar. The drink, ice, garnishes and disposables you buy to sell or serve at paid events are a straightforward cost of doing the job.
  • Public liability insurance. Cover for your events, your kit and the public is a business cost the company claims.
  • Staff for event days. Wages for the people who set up, serve and pack down are a business cost. But casual does not mean off the books: paying people to staff your events normally means registering as an employer and running a payroll, even for weekend-only workers. Our guide on taking on your first employee walks through it.
  • The van. A van the company buys for hauling kit gets the same full first-year treatment as the kit itself, and its fuel, servicing and insurance for the work are company costs. That treatment covers vans, not cars, and a company van used for your own life as well as the work becomes a taxable perk with extra paperwork. Business use only, with nothing more than the odd insignificant detour, is fine. If the van doubles as the family car, or you want the company to own a car at all, ask an accountant.

Keep the receipts. The claim is only as good as the paper behind it.

The trap: entertaining clients

Events businesses live on food, drink and hospitality, so this line matters more here than in almost any other trade: hospitality your clients pay for is a cost of the job, hospitality you give away free to win or keep clients is business entertaining, and business entertaining is not claimable against your company's tax.

So the catering, drinks and staff for a wedding the couple has paid you to run are normal business costs, and a tasting the couple pays for, or that is part of the package price, is part of the paid job. But a free showcase evening with drinks for prospective clients, taking a venue manager out to dinner, or a thank-you hamper for a big client is entertaining, and the company cannot claim it. It still gets recorded, it just gets added back before the tax is worked out. The full picture, including the staff party exception, is in our guide on claiming food, drink and entertaining.

What does filing look like with us?

At year end your company has three dates to keep apart. Your accounts go to Companies House within 9 months of your year end, the Corporation Tax itself is due 9 months and 1 day after the year end, and your Company Tax Return, the CT600, goes to HMRC within 12 months. A late return costs £200 from the very first day. HMRC's own free filing service has closed, so every company now files through commercial software.

SimpleReturns is built for businesses like yours. You upload the company bank statement and answer a few plain-English questions, no accounting words. You review every figure on one screen before anything is sent, then we file both returns for you: the tax return to HMRC and the accounts to Companies House. It is free to start, no card needed, and filing costs £99 flat for both.

Common questions

A couple paid a deposit this year for a wedding next year. Which year is it taxed in?

Under normal company accounting the income belongs to the year you deliver the wedding, not the year the deposit landed. Until then it counts as money received but not yet earned.

A booking cancelled and I refunded the deposit. Do I still pay tax on it?

No. The refund reverses the income, so the company is not taxed on money it gave back. If you kept a cancellation fee, the kept part is income.

Can I claim the tastings I run for couples?

If the tasting is charged for or included in the package the couple pays for, it is part of the paid job. A free tasting or showcase for people who have not booked is entertaining, which the company cannot claim.

I only pay staff for event days. Do I really need payroll?

Normally yes. Paying people to work your events means registering as an employer and running payroll, even if they only work the odd Saturday. Our first employee guide covers it.

Want your events company's return filed for you?

You upload the company bank statement and answer a few plain-English questions, no accounting words. We sort the fees, deposits and kit costs, work out the profit and the Corporation Tax, and build both filings: the tax return for HMRC and the accounts for Companies House. You review every figure before anything is sent. Free to start, no card needed, and £99 flat covers both.

Start your return

And if next season's deposits are sitting in this year's bank balance, or your takings are near the VAT line, we will flag it plainly so you can get an accountant to sort that one part.

General guidance, not advice. This guide explains how the rules generally work for small UK limited companies. It isn't tax advice for your specific situation, if you're unsure, check with us or an accountant.