Terms of service

Last updated 17 September 2026

Short version: for a one-off fee (£5 for a dormant company, £15 for a small company that traded, with or without tax to pay, or that had no trade and bank interest only), Dormant Return prepares your company's CT600 and iXBRL documents from the details you provide and submits them to HMRC under your own Government Gateway sign-in. If HMRC rejects the submission, the fee is refunded automatically.

The service

Dormant Return is filing software, provided by Dormant Return Ltd (registered in England and Wales, company number 17393077). It prepares a Company Tax Return (form CT600 with iXBRL accounts, and for a company that traded, an iXBRL tax computation) from the information you enter, shows it to you for review, and transmits it to HMRC's Corporation Tax online service using the Government Gateway credentials you supply. The submission is your company's own filing, made by you; we act as the software through which you file, not as your agent, accountant or adviser.

What you are responsible for

• The accuracy of the information you enter, including the company details, UTR, accounting period and approval details. The return is prepared from your inputs and you review it before filing.
• Confirming that the return you choose is appropriate for your company. The dormant return is for companies that did not trade in the period. The active-company return is for a small company with one UK trade and a loss, exactly nil, or a profit within the small profits limit, with no claims beyond the annual investment allowance on equipment bought new in the period, as set out in the eligibility checklist; it is prepared entirely from the figures you enter, which must match the micro-entity accounts filed at Companies House. Any Corporation Tax due is computed at 19% on the figures you enter; filing the return does not pay it, and paying HMRC by the due date is your responsibility. Any brought-forward trading-loss balance you enter comes from your previous Corporation Tax computation, not from those accounts, and on your confirmation alone is set against a profit for the period or carried forward: you are responsible for it being the full unused balance, already reported to HMRC, and for meeting the eligibility conditions shown before you enter it. Any equipment figure you enter is claimed in full as annual investment allowance on your confirmation that it qualifies. The charity return is for a charity or registered community amateur sports club whose income and gains for the period are all exempt from tax and have been, or will be, applied for charitable or qualifying purposes only, as set out in its own eligibility checklist. It is not for a charitable trust, which files a Trust and Estate Tax Return instead. If your affairs fall outside every one of these shapes, this is not the right service, and our guide for companies that traded and our guide for small charities explain where to go.
• Any document you upload. On the charity return you supply the accounts for the period as a PDF, and we attach them to the return and send them to HMRC exactly as you supply them. We do not prepare the accounts, we do not read them, and we do not check that they are the right accounts for the period or that they agree with the figures you enter. Both are your responsibility. You confirm that you are entitled to file the document and that it contains nothing you are not permitted to disclose to HMRC.
• Having authority to file for the company, and using the company's own Government Gateway credentials.
• Your company's other obligations, including Companies House filings, which this service does not make.

Payment and refunds

• The fee is £5 for a dormant return or a charity return, or £15 for an active-company or interest-only return, taken once per prepared return through Stripe before filing. There is no subscription and no recurring charge.
• If HMRC rejects the submission, or the submission fails, the fee is refunded automatically to your payment method. Refunds typically reach your bank within five to ten working days.
• A failed Government Gateway sign-in does not consume your payment: the return stays ready to file once the credentials are corrected. After five failed sign-in attempts in a row we pause filing on that return for 5 minutes and email you what to check; you can then try again. A return that is still not filed 24 hours after payment is closed and refunded automatically.
• If a paid return has still not been filed 24 hours after payment, for any reason, we close it and refund the fee automatically. If you are waiting for HMRC to activate Corporation Tax on your Government Gateway account, you can ask us on the filing page to keep the paid return for 30 days from payment instead. We send one reminder email before a return is closed, with a link back to the return; reply to it if you would like the refund sooner. Starting a second return for the same company and period while the first is still paid for sends you back to the first rather than charging again.
• Once HMRC has accepted the return, the service has been delivered and the fee is not refundable.

What we promise, and the limits

• We transmit exactly the return shown to you at review, and give you HMRC's acceptance evidence in your receipt.
• The service is provided with reasonable skill and care, but we cannot guarantee HMRC's systems are available at any given moment, or that HMRC will accept a submission (for example where the UTR or period does not match HMRC's records).
• Dormant Return is not tax, legal or accounting advice, and nothing on this site is a substitute for professional advice about your company's circumstances.
• To the extent permitted by law, our total liability arising from a filing is limited to the fee you paid for it. Nothing in these terms limits liability that cannot lawfully be limited.

General

These terms are governed by the law of England and Wales, and the courts of England and Wales have jurisdiction. If we update these terms, the version in force when you pay for a filing is the one that applies to it. Questions: support@dormantreturn.co.uk.