What am I actually paying for?
Every limited company has to send HMRC a tax return each year. It shows what your company earned, takes off the costs, works out the profit, and works out the Corporation Tax you owe.
The return itself is the same job whoever does it. What changes between the three options below is how much of that job you do yourself, and so how much it costs. That is the whole choice.
The three ways to file, and what each costs
1. Do it yourself (cheapest, often free or close to it)
You can do the whole thing yourself. HMRC used to run a free website where small companies filed their accounts and tax return, but that free service has now closed. To file on your own today you use filing software instead. Some of it is free or low-cost for a simple small company, so doing it yourself can still cost you little or nothing.
The catch is that none of it does the thinking for you. You work out your own profit, work out the tax, decide which figure goes in which box, and handle the technical tagging HMRC needs. If you are confident with numbers and your company is simple, this can be the right pick and the cheapest. If you are not sure what goes where, it can be slow and easy to get wrong.
2. SimpleReturns (£99, paid once)
You connect your bank or upload a statement, and we do the figures. We add up the money your company took in, add up the costs it is allowed to take off, work out the profit and the Corporation Tax, and fill in every box, including the technical tagging. You check the numbers, then we file them with HMRC and Companies House.
It costs £99, paid once, for that filing. No monthly fee, no subscription, no contract. If you file again next year, that is another £99, only when you need it.
3. A high-street accountant (roughly £600 to £1,800 a year)
An accountant does the work for you and gives you advice along the way. For a small company, year-end accounts plus the Corporation Tax return usually cost somewhere around £600 to £1,800 a year, often paid as a monthly fee. The price climbs if your company is more involved, for example if you are VAT-registered or run payroll.
You pay more than the other two options, and you get more: a person who knows your business, can spot things, and can answer questions through the year. For some companies that is worth every penny.
How the three compare
| Do it yourself | SimpleReturns | Accountant | |
|---|---|---|---|
| What it costs | Often free or low-cost | £99, paid once | About £600 to £1,800 a year |
| Who works out the figures | You do | We do | They do |
| Who fills in the boxes and tagging | You do | We do | They do |
| Ongoing tax advice | None | None | Yes |
| Pay monthly? | No | No, one-off | Usually yes |
| Best if | Your company is simple and you are happy with numbers | You want it done for you at a fixed, low price | Your company is complex or you want advice all year |
The figures HMRC needs are the same on every row. The price reflects how much of the work lands on you.
So which one should I pick?
If your company is straightforward, a small business with money in, costs out, and not much else, and you want it done for you without a big bill, that is who SimpleReturns is built for. You pay £99, we do the figures, and you are done.
If you are confident doing your own accounting and your company is simple, doing it yourself is the cheapest route, often free or close to it with filing software, as long as you are happy to work out every figure yourself.
If your company is more complex, say it is part of a group, has tricky affairs, or you want someone to give you tax advice and plan ahead through the year, an accountant is the better fit, and that is an honest call to make. We are not trying to replace that.
Does filing late cost extra?
Yes, and this part is the same whoever files. If your company tax return is late, HMRC charges an automatic £200 penalty straight away, and a further £200 if it is still not filed after three months. After that the charge is based on the tax you owe. That £200 applies even if your company owes no tax. Tax paid late also builds up interest. So none of the three options lets you skip a deadline, the difference between them is price and how much work you do, not whether you can file late.
How SimpleReturns keeps it to £99
We charge £99 for one filing because the software does the heavy lifting. It reads your year's money in and out, applies the rules, works out the tax, and fills in everything HMRC and Companies House need. You are paying for the result, not for hours of someone's time, which is why it is one fixed price instead of a monthly fee.