SimpleReturns

What is box 145 on the CT600? (turnover)

Reviewed by Lee Jones, Founder · Updated 16 July 2026
The short answer

Box 145 is your company's turnover: the total money it earned from doing the thing it actually does, like selling products or charging for services. HMRC's own label for it is "Total turnover from trade". It is only your trading sales, so money from loans, grants, bank interest or rent does not belong in this box.

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

What goes in it?

Box 145 takes one number: everything customers paid your company for its products or services during the accounting period, added up. HMRC's guide puts it simply: enter the total trading turnover from any source. "From any source" means from any part of your trade, so if your café also sells beans online, both count.

You do not work this number out on the form. It comes straight from your company's accounts: turnover is the first line at the top of the profit and loss account, and box 145 should be the same figure.

A quick example. Say your company runs a small design studio (not VAT registered) and, during the year, the following money came in:

  • £62,000 from clients paying invoices
  • £5,000 from a local business support grant
  • £40 of interest from the business bank account
  • £10,000 from a bank loan

Box 145 is £62,000. Just the client money. The grant, the interest and the loan are all real money in the bank, but none of them is turnover.

One more wrinkle: if your company is VAT registered, turnover is your sales without the VAT you added on. That VAT was never your money; you collected it for HMRC.

What usually goes wrong?

The classic mistake is treating box 145 as "all the money that arrived in the bank account". It is not. It is only your trading sales, and the other kinds of money each have their own home:

  • Loans. Money you borrow is not income at all. You have to pay it back, so it never appears in turnover and it is not taxed as income.
  • Grants. A grant usually is taxable income, but it is still not turnover, because nobody bought anything from you. It sits in a separate income line of your accounts instead.
  • Bank interest. Interest your bank paid you has its own box further down the form, so putting it in box 145 counts it in the wrong place.
  • Rent. If your company earns rent, that is property income, and it has its own box too (box 190).

Why does it matter? Each of those other kinds of money has its own proper home on the form, so a box 145 padded with grants or interest no longer matches the turnover line in your accounts or what HMRC expects to see there. That kind of mismatch is exactly the thing that invites questions.

One honest edge case: a few companies do not fill in box 145 at all. Investment companies and some financial businesses without a normal turnover figure skip it. If your company just sells goods or services, this is not you.

Do I have to work this out myself?

Not if your filing software does its job. Any decent tool fills box 145 from your accounts rather than asking you to add it up by hand. SimpleReturns goes one step earlier: it reads your business bank statement, works out which money in was actually a sale and which was a loan, a grant, rent or interest, and shows you the turnover figure with the reasoning next to each line before anything is filed. You check it, and it goes into box 145 for you. It is free to start, and filing costs £99 flat for both the HMRC return and the Companies House accounts.

Common questions

Is turnover the same as profit?

No. Turnover is what customers paid you before any costs come off. Profit is what is left after costs. Turnover goes in box 145; your trading profit has its own box just below (box 155).

Do I include VAT in box 145?

If your company is VAT registered, no: use your sales without the VAT you charged on top, because that VAT belongs to HMRC, not you. If you are not VAT registered, your invoice totals are already the right numbers.

My company only earns rent. What goes in box 145?

Nothing. Rent is property income and belongs in box 190, not in turnover. Our guide to box 190, property income, explains that box.

Want box 145 worked out for you?

SimpleReturns works out box 145 for you from your business bank statement: it separates sales from loans, grants, rent and interest, shows you the turnover figure with the reasoning next to it, and puts it in the box. Free to start, no card needed, and filing costs £99 flat for both the HMRC return and the Companies House accounts.

Start your return

You check the figure, with the reasoning next to each line, before anything is filed.

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.