SimpleReturns

Company tax returns for florists

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

If you sell flowers through a limited company, whether that is a high-street shop, a studio doing weddings, or both, 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 its own shape: your income is everything customers pay you, from a £6 bunch at the counter to a £2,000 wedding, and your biggest bits of kit are the fridges and the van. The traps to watch are cash sales that never get written down, flowers you take home for yourself, and a VAT line that creeps up on you after a big Valentine's Day.

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 a customer pays your company. For a florist that usually means several streams added together: sales over the counter, wedding and event work, funeral tributes, subscription bouquets that go out weekly or monthly, and anything you charge for delivery. All of it is the company's trading income.

Delivery charges catch people out. If you charge £5 to deliver a bouquet, that £5 is income, even if it barely covers the driver and the diesel. The cost of delivering is a separate line on the cost side. Record both in full, never the gap between them.

Your tax bill 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 a florist the usual list looks like this:

  • Flowers and wholesale market purchases. Every stem, plant and bit of greenery you buy to sell, whether from the wholesale market at 4am or a Dutch supplier online. And here is the reassuring part: flowers that wilt before they sell are still part of that cost. You bought the whole lot for the business, so the whole purchase is a business cost. You do not need a separate calculation for wastage.
  • Wrapping and sundries. Ribbon, cellophane, tissue, floral foam, vases, message cards and the rest of the workbench.
  • Fridges and cold storage. A display chiller, an upright fridge or a walk-in cold room counts as equipment, and an allowance lets the company claim the full cost against its profit in the year you buy it, up to a very high yearly limit. That matters in the year you fit out a shop. Our guide on claiming equipment goes deeper.
  • The delivery van. A van bought for the business gets the same full first-year treatment (vans qualify, cars do not), and its fuel, servicing, tyres and insurance for the work are company costs. A company van used only for deliveries and market runs, with nothing more than the odd insignificant detour, creates no extra personal tax for you. If it doubles as your own car at weekends, that private use becomes a taxable perk with its own paperwork, and that part is worth an accountant's help.
  • The shop. Rent on the shop or studio, business rates, and the electricity, heating and water, including what those chillers drink all summer.

Keep the receipts, including the crumpled ones from the flower market. The claim is only as good as the paper behind it.

The traps: cash, flowers you take home, and the VAT line

Cash sales all count. A florist's counter still takes a lot of cash, and every note in the till is the company's income, receipt or no receipt. Write up the till every day so the paper trail matches the truth.

Flowers you take home are not free. They feel free, because they would only have wilted. But they belong to the company, not to you, and when a company hands its goods to a director there are tax and reporting strings attached rather than a part-claim or a shrug. The window display and a sample arrangement for a wedding client are business stock doing its job; the bunch on your own kitchen table is a perk question. If that happens regularly, have a quick word with an accountant about how to handle it cleanly.

The VAT line creeps. If your company's taxable takings go over £90,000 across any rolling 12 months, not a calendar year and not your accounting year, it must register for VAT. The rolling part is what bites florists, because Valentine's Day and Mothering Sunday can stuff two huge months into the total and push it over mid-year without you noticing. Check the last 12 months' takings every month, and if you expect to sail over £90,000 within the next 30 days the registration duty starts then.

What does filing look like with us?

At year end your company has two deadlines to keep apart. The accounts go to Companies House within 9 months of your year end, and the Corporation Tax itself is due 9 months and 1 day after the year end. The Company Tax Return, the CT600, then 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. The market runs, the fridge, the van and the wedding payments all get sorted into the right places, and 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

Do I still file if the shop made a loss?

Yes. A limited company must send its Company Tax Return even in a loss year, and the accounts still go to Companies House.

Can the company claim flowers that wilted unsold?

Yes, in the simplest way possible: what you spent buying stock for the business is a business cost, including the stems that never sold. There is no extra form for wastage.

My new display fridge cost £3,000. Can I claim it all at once?

Normally yes. Fridges and chillers count as equipment, and the allowance lets the company set the full cost against profit in the year of purchase.

I use the shop van at weekends. Is that a problem?

It changes things. Business-only use, with nothing more than an insignificant detour, means no extra personal tax. Regular private use makes the van a taxable perk the company has to report, and an accountant should set that up properly.

Want your flower shop's return filed for you?

You upload the company bank statement, add any cash takings, and answer a few plain-English questions with no accounting words. We sort the shop takings, the stock and fridge costs and the van, 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 your takings are anywhere near the VAT line, or the van and the flowers keep going home with you, 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.