SimpleReturns

Company tax returns for musicians and content creators

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

If you make music or content through a limited company, whether you are gigging, streaming, posting or teaching, 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: your income arrives in lots of small streams from lots of platforms, the money that lands in your bank is often smaller than what you actually earned, and your biggest costs are kit. There is one trap to watch: treating the platform payout as your income and quietly losing the fees, and with them the true size of your turnover.

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 the company earned, from every stream. For a musician or creator that list is usually long: gig and session fees, streaming royalties, ad revenue, sponsorship and brand deals, merchandise sales, and any teaching or coaching you charge through the company. All of it is trading income, and all of it goes on the return.

Here is the bit that trips creators up. Most platforms pay you after taking their cut, so the number that lands in your bank is not the number you earned. If your videos earned £1,000 of ad revenue and the platform kept £300, your company's income is £1,000 and the £300 fee is a company cost. Record both, matching the payout statements rather than just the bank line. Do not book the £700 and move on.

One honest sentence on royalties from abroad: money earned overseas can arrive with foreign tax already taken off, and sorting that out properly is accountant territory, so mention it to one rather than untangling it yourself.

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%.

And because creator income is lumpy, watch the VAT line. A viral month or a big brand deal can push your takings over £90,000 across any rolling 12 months, not a calendar or accounting year, and at that point the company has to register for VAT.

What can your company claim?

The rule behind every cost is simple: it has to be for the business. For a musician or creator the usual list looks like this:

  • Instruments and kit. Instruments, cameras, microphones, lighting, audio interfaces and the laptop you edit on all count 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 is a real help in the year you upgrade the camera or buy the good mic.
  • Software subscriptions. Editing suites, recording software, plugins, stock music and the tools that run your channel, where they are for the work.
  • Studio and rehearsal hire. Recording time, rehearsal rooms and hired venues.
  • Agent and manager commission. If an agent, manager or platform partner takes a cut for getting you work, that cut is a company cost, recorded the same way as platform fees: income in full, commission as a cost.
  • Travel to gigs and shoots. If you drive your own car, the company can pay you a set amount per mile with no tax to report: 55p a mile for the first 10,000 business miles in the tax year (the rate went up from 45p in April 2026), then 25p a mile. Keep a simple log of the journeys.
  • A home studio. If you regularly record or edit at home, the company can pay you a flat £6 a week towards home costs, no receipts needed. Anything bigger needs evidence, so keep it simple unless an accountant sets up more.

What about stage clothes? Careful here. Ordinary clothes are not a company cost, even if you only ever wear them to perform. A true performance costume is a different thing. If your look is genuinely part of the act, ask an accountant which side of the line your wardrobe sits on before the company pays for it.

One more plain sentence on kit: if company equipment doubles as your personal gear in a real, regular way, that private use can become a taxable perk with extra paperwork for the company, so keep company kit for the work and let an accountant handle anything genuinely mixed.

Our guide on what expenses your company can claim goes deeper on the general rules. And keep the receipts: the claim is only as good as the paper behind it.

The trap: booking the payout instead of the earnings

It is worth saying twice because it decides whether your return is right. Platforms pay net, so if you copy the bank figure into your books as income, your turnover is understated and your costs are missing, both wrong at once. It matters for more than tidiness: turnover is what counts towards the £90,000 VAT line, so a company booking net payouts can sail past it without noticing. The fix is cheap: for each platform, keep the payout statements and record what you earned and what they charged, not just what arrived.

What does filing look like with us?

At year end your company has two deadlines to keep apart. Your accounts go to Companies House within 9 months of your year end, and the Corporation Tax itself is due at about the same time, 9 months and 1 day after the year end. Your Company Tax Return, the CT600, then goes to HMRC within 12 months of the year end. 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

Do I need to file if my channel or band made a loss this year?

Yes. Every company that HMRC has asked for a return must send one, even with a loss or nothing to pay. A loss year filed properly can also reduce the tax on better years, which is one more reason to get the figures right.

My streaming money comes from lots of tiny payments. Do I really have to track them all?

You have to get to a true total, and the platform statements do the heavy lifting: each one shows what you earned and what the platform kept. Match those rather than reconstructing hundreds of micro payments by hand.

Can the company buy my instrument or camera and claim it?

Yes, equipment the company buys for the work can be claimed in full against profit in the year of purchase. If it is also your personal gear in a real, regular way, that private use can become a taxable perk, so talk to an accountant before mixing the two.

Is sponsorship and brand-deal money taxed differently from music income?

No. Gig fees, royalties, ad revenue, sponsorships, merchandise and teaching are all trading income of the company and all land in the same pot on the return.

Want your music or content 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 platform payouts and the kit and studio 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 overseas royalty tax, a company car or a wardrobe question comes up, 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.