SimpleReturns

Company tax returns for security firms and door staff

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

If you run a security business through a limited company, whether that is manned guarding, door supervision, event cover or CCTV monitoring, 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 is shifts and contracts billed to clients, your costs include SIA licences, uniforms and kit, and your trickiest question is whether the guards who work for you are employees or genuinely self-employed. That last one is the trap in this trade.

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 client was charged for the work. For a security company that usually means four streams: contract guarding fees, door-supervision shifts invoiced to pubs and venues, one-off event cover, and keyholding or alarm-response retainers. All of it is the company's trading income, including a monthly retainer for a call-out that never came.

One habit to build early: record everything, including cash. A cash-paid door shift at 2am is exactly as much income as an invoiced contract, and your company must keep records of all money received and spent, for 6 years, with a fine of up to £3,000 for not keeping proper records. The simple rule that saves you: every job goes through the company bank account.

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%.

One more thing while we are on money coming in: guarding contracts add up fast. Three steady contracts at £3,000 a month is over £100,000 a year before you count a single event. If your company's taxable takings go over £90,000 across any rolling 12-month period, not a calendar or accounting year, it must register for VAT. That is a separate job from this return, and if you are near the line, an accountant can help you time it right.

What can your company claim?

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

  • SIA licences. Your people cannot legally work the door, guard a site, monitor public CCTV or hold keys without the right licence, currently £204 each. When the company pays for the licences its guards need to do the job, that is a cost of doing business, plain and simple.
  • Uniforms and protective kit. Here is the careful one. Kit with your company's name or logo on it, and genuinely protective gear like stab vests and hi-vis, is business kit the company claims. Plain black trousers, shoes and jackets are where HMRC pushes back, because everyday clothing you could wear anywhere is generally not a business cost just because you wear it on shift. If in doubt, put the branding on it.
  • Radios, bodycams and equipment. Radios, earpieces, bodycams, torches, barriers and the screens in a monitoring room all count as business equipment, and an allowance lets the company claim the full cost against profit in the year you buy it, up to a very high yearly limit.
  • The patrol vehicle. A van bought for patrols and callouts gets the same full first-year treatment, and its fuel, servicing and insurance for the work are company costs. A van used only for the work, with nothing more than the odd insignificant private detour, creates no extra personal tax either. Cars are different: the full first-year claim does not apply to them, and a company car, or any vehicle that doubles as your own, brings personal tax rules with it. Talk to an accountant before putting a car through the company.
  • Wages for employed guards. If your guards are on the payroll, their wages and the employer's National Insurance the company pays on top are company costs. Our guide on taking on your first employee walks through setting that up properly.
  • Subcontracted guards. Invoices from self-employed subcontractors are a business cost too. But read the next section before you relax, because the label on the invoice is not the end of the story.
  • Training. SIA courses, refreshers and first aid for the people doing the work are business costs, and paying for an employee's work-related training creates nothing extra to report either.

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

The trap: are your guards really self-employed?

Lots of security firms run on subcontracted guards because the work is shift-based and lumpy. Here is the honest warning: HMRC cares whether someone billed as self-employed is genuinely self-employed, and that comes from the real working relationship, not from what the invoice calls it. A guard who works your rota, in your uniform, under your instructions, week in week out, may look like an employee to the taxman, and getting that wrong can mean back taxes the company never budgeted for. The dividing line is genuinely not simple, so if your company relies on subcontracted guards, have an accountant look at how those arrangements are set up. That one conversation is cheap compared with getting it wrong.

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. We sort the shift and contract income and the licence, kit and wage costs, you review every figure on one screen, then we file both returns for you: the tax return to HMRC and the accounts to Companies House. Free to start, no card needed, and filing costs £99 flat for both.

Common questions

Does the company still file if it made a loss this year?

Yes. The return goes in even when there is no tax to pay.

Can the company pay for SIA licences?

Yes. The licences are what let your people legally do the work, so when the company pays for them it is a normal business cost.

Can I claim the black trousers and boots I wear on the door?

Generally no. Ordinary clothes you could wear anywhere are not a business cost just because you wear them to work. Branded uniform and genuinely protective kit are a different story: those the company claims.

When does a security company need to register for VAT?

When taxable takings pass £90,000 over any rolling 12-month period, not a calendar or accounting year. Steady guarding contracts get there faster than people expect, so watch the running 12-month total, not just the year-end figure.

Want your security company'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 shift-and-contract income and the licence, kit and wage 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 your guards are subcontracted, 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.