Before Tax Optimiser can prepare your statutory accounts or your Corporation Tax return it needs the year’s figures. There are four ways to get them in, and whichever you pick, the figures land in the same place — the period’s trial balance — which then drives both the accounts filed at Companies House and the CT600 filed with HMRC. This article helps you choose, then walks through Simple Entry, the quickest route for a small company, from the first figure to filing.
Choose how to enter your figures
Open your accounting period and choose Trial Balance from the left menu. On a period with no figures yet you’ll see one card for each way in, each with a short explanation and a Learn more link back to this article.
| Option | Best for | What you need | What happens next |
|---|---|---|---|
| Simple Entry | Small (micro-entity) companies with straightforward affairs and no bookkeeping software | Your year-end totals: sales, costs, what the company owns and owes | You type them into numbered boxes; the tax is worked out as you go |
| Import from a spreadsheet | Figures prepared by an accountant or another bookkeeping system | A trial balance export (Excel or CSV) | Each account is matched to a standard account; AI suggests the rest |
| Connect your bookkeeping software | Companies that keep their books in Xero or QuickBooks | Your Xero or QuickBooks login | The trial balance syncs for this and every later period |
| Manual Entry | Accountants, and anyone comfortable with debits and credits | A balance for each account | You type debits and credits against the full chart of accounts |
You aren’t locked in. Once a period has figures, an Entering figures by strip sits under the heading of the trial balance, Manual Entry and Simple Entry screens. It shows the three methods side by side — Simple Entry, Manual Entry and Import (or the name of your connected software) — with the one you’re using highlighted, and you click another to switch.
- Simple Entry and Manual Entry are two views of the same figures, so moving between them is one click and nothing changes.
- Moving to or from Import (shown as Import or connect while you’re typing figures) asks you to confirm first, because it changes how figures are entered for every period of the organisation, not just the one you’re looking at. Switching to typing keeps the figures already there. Switching back to import keeps typed figures until you upload a file or sync, but a period that was imported before goes straight back to its imported balances, replacing anything typed over them.
Simple Entry at a glance
Simple Entry presents the micro-entity accounts as a short list of numbered boxes — the same codes Companies House and HMRC use (AC12 turnover, AC450 fixed assets and so on) — with a plain-English hint under each one. It works in five steps — Profit and loss, Balance sheet, Corporation tax, Company and directors and Finalise and file — which you can visit in any order by clicking the step at the top or using Back and Next. Anything you type is kept as you move between steps. A strip above the steps shows the profit before tax, whether the balance sheet balances (and by how much it is out if it doesn’t) and the corporation tax; it stays at the top of the screen as you scroll, and a green tick marks each step that is done. Your figures save themselves a moment after you stop typing and whenever you change step — the status at the bottom left reads All changes saved — and the Save button beside it saves straight away. It’s the recommended option on the start screen for micro-entity periods.
It’s offered when the period’s Accounts Type is Micro-entity (FRS 105), the usual choice for a small company. For any other accounts type the card is greyed out and says why; change the Accounts Type on the period Overview if FRS 105 is right for you.
Click Use Simple Entry and the organisation is switched to manual entry (Simple Entry writes to the same trial balance Manual Entry does) and the Simple Entry screen opens. Later you can reach it from the Simple Entry option in the Entering figures by strip on the trial balance, or from the period Overview.
Enter your income and expenses
Each box carries its code (for example AC12) and a plain-English hint. Type the year’s totals in the Current year column. The Prior year column holds last year’s figures, which appear as comparatives in the accounts; leave it blank if this is the company’s first year. (Hover over a prior-year box to see its own code, such as AC13.) While the prior year column is still empty, Pull in prior year figures above the boxes offers to fill it for you.
- Turnover (AC12) — total sales.
- Other income (AC405) — bank interest, grants and anything else that isn’t sales.
- Cost of raw materials and consumables (AC410), Staff costs (AC415), Depreciation (AC420) and Other charges (AC425) — the four expense headings micro-entity accounts use. Other charges is everything else: rent, insurance, travel, accountancy and so on.
To build up Other charges, click Break down these expenses under it. You get a line for each of the most common costs (accountancy fees, insurance, rent and rates, telephone, travel and so on), plus Anything else for the rest. AC425 then becomes the total of those lines, and each line is saved to its own account, so the corporation tax computation shows what the money was spent on. If you need lines that aren’t listed, switch to Manual Entry, which can use any nominal account. Your figures carry across.
Profit before tax (AC435) and profit after tax (SE 1) are worked out for you as you type. Figures the screen works out are shown ruled off in bold rather than in a box, so you can always tell them from the ones you type. In our example: turnover £90,000 less materials £20,000, staff £25,000, depreciation £3,000 and other charges £12,000 gives a profit before tax of £30,000.
A box that doesn’t hold a number turns red with Enter a number, and Save stays disabled until it’s corrected — nothing is ever silently saved as zero.
Enter the balance sheet
Next come what the company owns and owes at the year end: fixed assets (AC450) at their net book value, current assets (AC455) such as the bank balance and money owed by customers, and what it owes — creditors due within one year (AC58), after more than one year (AC64), provisions and accruals. Corporation tax payable (SE 2) is filled in by the corporation tax step, so you don’t type it for the current year.
Under Capital and reserves enter the share capital (SE 3), any dividends paid (SE 4) and the retained earnings brought forward (SE 5) — last year’s closing figure. The bar underneath turns green when total net assets (AC68) equal capital and reserves (AC490) — £27,442.50 each in the example: the balance sheet balances.
If it doesn’t balance, the bar says by how much, and so does the strip at the top of every step. Ask AI why it doesn’t balance under the bar suggests where to look. The usual culprits are a missing bank balance, retained earnings brought forward that don’t match last year’s accounts, or a loan entered in the wrong creditors box.
The corporation tax step
The accounts profit isn’t quite the taxable profit, so the corporation tax step asks for the handful of adjustments a small company usually needs:
- Disallowable expenses (SE 10) — costs in the accounts that aren’t allowable for tax, such as client entertaining or fines. They’re added back.
- Depreciation add-back (SE 11) — depreciation is never allowable, so it’s added back. It defaults to the depreciation in the accounts.
- Annual Investment Allowance (CT600 690) — tax relief on plant, machinery and equipment bought in the year, claimed in full. The hint shows the maximum for the period. Cars don’t qualify for the AIA — see When to use the Assets tab.
- Other capital allowances (SE 12) — 100% first-year allowances only, entered as the amount of the claim. Writing-down allowances on equipment from earlier years belong on the Assets tab.
- Trading losses brought forward (SE 13) — unused trading losses carried forward from last year’s corporation tax computation (for example where last year’s Annual Investment Allowance turned a profit into a loss). Only the part needed is set against this year’s profits (CT600 285); the rest is shown as carried forward. This is the tax loss, not a deficit on retained earnings. Last year’s own return isn’t recalculated — the prior-year column in the accounts is just typed in from last year’s filed accounts.
- Qualifying charitable donations (SE 15) — gifts of money to UK charities or community amateur sports clubs paid in the period. Leave them in the accounts expenses as normal and don’t include them in SE 10: the computation adds them back and deducts them from profits (CT600 305). Relief is limited to the profits left after losses, and any excess can’t be carried forward.
The step starts from the profit before tax in your accounts. Once your figures have saved, the chargeable profits and the corporation tax chargeable (CT600 440) are calculated by the same engine that prepares the full computation and the CT600. In the example: £30,000 + £500 + £3,000 − £4,000 − £250 = £29,250 chargeable, and £5,557.50 tax at 19%.
The tax is written straight back into the accounts as Tax on profit (AC35) and Corporation tax payable (SE 2), which is why the balance sheet only balances once the figures have saved. If you need a different tax charge in the accounts you can overwrite the last box; Use the computed figure puts it back.
If tax for an earlier year turned out to be under- or over-provided (for example after a loss carry-back or a repayment from HMRC), enter the difference in Adjustment to tax for earlier periods (SE 14). Type an over-provision, which is a credit, with a minus sign. It is added to Tax on profit (AC35) only: this year’s computation, the CT600 and Corporation tax payable (SE 2) are not changed, so a year with no tax to pay can still show a tax credit in the accounts.
A blue note above the step lists anything the return still needs before it can be filed. A common one on a new organisation is Please select a tax office: set the Tax Office on the organisation’s settings page. It doesn’t stop you entering figures. Where the UTR or the HMRC account is what’s missing, the note links straight to the Company and directors step.
Periods longer than 12 months
A company’s first accounts often run for more than 12 months. Corporation tax periods can’t be longer than 12 months, so a period like this needs two Corporation Tax returns: one for the first 12 months and one for the rest. The step says which dates each return covers. The profit is split between the two returns by the number of days in each. Disallowable expenses, the depreciation add-back and losses brought forward are entered once for the whole period, and any losses the first return doesn’t use are carried into the second. Capital allowances and charitable donations are entered against the return the spending or gift fell in.
Capital allowances work differently because they depend on when the spending happened. The Annual Investment Allowance and other capital allowances therefore each have two boxes, one for each return, and each AIA box shows its own maximum. The step then shows the chargeable profits and corporation tax for each return, followed by the total for both. That total is written to Tax on profit (AC35) and Corporation tax payable (SE 2), and both returns are filed together from Finalise and file.
When to use the Assets tab
The two capital allowance boxes suit the usual small company: a few pieces of equipment bought in the year, all claimed with the Annual Investment Allowance. Use the Assets tab of the full corporation tax computation instead (the step links to it) when the company:
- bought a car — cars get writing-down allowances in a pool set by their CO2 emissions, not the AIA;
- sold or scrapped equipment it had claimed allowances on — the sale can create a balancing charge that is taxed;
- has a pool brought forward from earlier years, or claims writing-down allowances on older equipment — the Assets tab carries the balance forward each year;
- has special rate spending (such as integral features), or wants full expensing or structures and buildings allowances.
Once anything has been entered on the Assets tab, the corporation tax step shows the Annual Investment Allowance and total capital allowances from it as read-only figures, with a link to change them there. This stops the same equipment being claimed twice. Allowances typed into the step before that are still included: they appear on the Assets tab as rows ending “(Simple Entry)”, so delete any that repeat an asset you have added.
Company details and directors
On the Company and directors step, start with the company number and click Find my company: it saves the number, fills in the registered name, office and incorporation date from Companies House and imports the officers as directors. The rest of the Company section is grouped by filing. To file the accounts at Companies House you need the authentication code and a presenter account; to file the CT600 with HMRC you need the corporation tax UTR and your HMRC online account. None of these are needed until you file, so you can leave them and carry on with the figures. Passwords and codes are never shown again once saved — type a new one only to replace it. If an accountant files for you, their firm’s accounts are used and those fields don’t appear.
Under Directors and approval, add the directors in office during the year, choose who signs the balance sheet, and enter the date the accounts were approved and the average number of employees (including directors — a required note in micro-entity accounts). Each section has its own save button, and anything you’ve changed is also saved when you move to another step; if something can’t be saved you’re brought back to the step with the reason shown.
Director loans and guarantees
Micro-entity accounts must disclose any money the company lent to a director (an overdrawn director’s loan account) and anything it guaranteed for one. Answer Yes to the question and add a row per loan: what was owed at the start of the year, advanced and repaid during it. The amount owed at the year end is worked out for you. These answers feed the advances and credit note.
A loan still outstanding nine months after the year end also costs the company section 455 tax (33.75% of the loan, or 35.75% for loans made from 6 April 2026), which appears in the corporation tax step as CT600 480. If the director repaid it within those nine months, enter the amount and the date it was repaid under Repaid within 9 months of year end: the relief depends on the date, which goes on the CT600A. In the example £3,000 was lent, £1,000 repaid during the year and the remaining £2,000 repaid on 14 November 2025, so there is no s455 charge.
HMRC says its Corporation Tax online service will be updated for the 35.75% rate on 6 April 2027. If the new rate applies to your company and you need to file before 6 April 2027, HMRC says you will need to amend your return after 6 April 2027 to reflect the new rate. This is in the loans to participators section of HMRC’s page on changes and issues affecting the Corporation Tax online service.
For the rules in full — and the CT600A boxes this feeds — see CT600A and loans to participators.
Finalise and file
The last step, Finalise and file, opens with a Next step line telling you the one thing to do now. Below it is a checklist in three groups — Accounts, Companies House and Corporation tax — each showing how many of its items are done, with a Go to… link beside each outstanding item that jumps to the step where it is fixed.
Under Sign and file, Preview the accounts opens the accounts exactly as they will be filed, and the four closing actions are listed in order. Each one says what it does, or what it is waiting for:
- Mark accounts as final — available when the Accounts group is complete. It freezes the figures so the accounts can be signed.
- Sign the accounts — sign online or upload a signed copy.
- File with Companies House — opens the filing wizard once the Companies House group is ticked off.
- File the CT600 — opens the CT600 wizard once the Corporation tax group is ticked off.
Need to change a figure after marking the accounts as final? Reopen the accounts makes them editable again.
Importing from a spreadsheet
If your figures already exist as a trial balance — exported from Sage, Xero, QuickFile, Mighty, or a spreadsheet from your accountant — choose Upload a file on the start screen. You pick the template that matches the export, each account is matched to a standard account (with AI suggestions for the tricky ones), and the import has to balance before it’s used. The whole process is covered in Import a trial balance from a spreadsheet.
Connecting Xero or QuickBooks
If the company keeps its books in Xero or QuickBooks, connect it once from the start screen and sign in to your account when asked. From then on each period’s trial balance is synced from the ledger — opening the Trial Balance on a new period pulls the balances in automatically, and Sync refreshes them after late adjustments. If a sync fails, the start screen explains why and offers Sync from Xero (or QuickBooks) to try again after reconnecting.
Manual Entry
Enter manually opens the full trial balance: every account in the chart of accounts, grouped as they appear in the accounts, with a debit or credit balance for each year. It gives you the most control — journals, presentation journals, working papers — and suits accountants or anyone happy with double entry. For a micro-entity it holds the same figures as Simple Entry: choose Manual Entry in the Entering figures by strip in Simple Entry to open it, and Simple Entry in the same strip to go back.
Frequently asked questions
Can I switch from Simple Entry to the full trial balance later?
Yes. Simple Entry and Manual Entry are two views of the same trial balance, so nothing is lost either way. Choose Manual Entry in the Entering figures by strip at the top of Simple Entry, and Simple Entry in the same strip to come back.
Why is Simple Entry greyed out for my period?
Simple Entry follows the micro-entity (FRS 105) accounts format. If the period’s Accounts Type is FRS 102 Section 1A, use one of the other options, or change the Accounts Type on the period Overview if micro-entity accounts are right for the company.
Do I need to know double-entry bookkeeping to use Simple Entry?
No. Every box takes a positive figure in plain terms — sales, costs, what the company owns and owes — and the screen does the arithmetic, including the tax. The bar under the balance sheet tells you when everything adds up.
Where do last year’s figures come from?
While the Prior year column is empty, Pull in prior year figures fills it for you. If last year’s period is in Tax Optimiser, its figures are copied across. If it is not, the balance sheet is read from the accounts the company filed at Companies House.
Companies House does not hold a micro-entity’s profit and loss account, and it records capital and reserves as a single total, so figures pulled from there cover the balance sheet only and the split between share capital and retained earnings is assumed. Accounts that were filed on paper or as a PDF cannot be read at all. In either case a warning stays on the figures steps and on the Finalise checklist until you press I’ve checked the prior year figures: compare the column with last year’s accounts and correct any box first. You can always type the figures in yourself.
Why doesn’t my balance sheet balance until the figures have saved?
The corporation tax is only worked out when the figures save, and it then lands in both the profit and loss account (AC35) and the balance sheet (SE 2). Wait for All changes saved at the bottom of the screen (or press Save), then check the bar.
A director repaid their loan after the year end. Do we still pay s455?
Not if it was repaid within nine months of the year end. Enter the amount repaid and the date under Repaid within 9 months of year end and the charge on that amount is relieved. Without the date the relief can’t be claimed.
