How to Add Corporation Tax to Your Government Gateway: A Guide for Kent Companies

If you run a limited company in Gravesend, Dartford, Medway or anywhere across Kent, Corporation Tax is one of the taxes you should be able to see in your own Government Gateway account. Adding it is straightforward, but unlike VAT there is one extra step to plan for: HMRC posts you an activation code. Here is how to do it, and why it pays to start early.

Before you start: what you’ll need

Have your company’s details to hand. You will be asked for:

• Your Company Unique Taxpayer Reference (UTR) — the 10-digit number HMRC issued shortly after the company was formed (it is on HMRC letters, headed “Corporation Tax”).
• Your Company Registration Number (CRN) — the 8-character number from Companies House.
• The postcode of your registered office.

Step by step

Sign in to your Business Tax Account at GOV.UK and then:

• From your business tax summary, select “Get online access to a tax, duty or scheme”, then “Add a tax, duty or scheme now”.
• Choose Corporation Tax.
• Enter your company UTR, registration number and registered-office postcode.
• Submit the request.

The activation code — plan for the post

This is the key difference with Corporation Tax. Rather than granting access instantly, HMRC will post an activation code (a PIN) to your registered office address, usually within about 7 to 10 working days. When it arrives, sign back in, select Corporation Tax, and enter the code to switch the service on. The code has an expiry date, so use it promptly. Because of this delay, do not leave adding Corporation Tax until just before a payment or filing deadline — set it up in good time so the code has arrived when you need access.

A couple of things worth knowing

Make sure your registered office address is current before you start, because that is where the code goes — if post to that address is unreliable, sort that out first. And as always, adding Corporation Tax to your own account sits alongside our agent access; we continue to prepare and file the company’s CT600 return. Your account simply lets you see the position, deadlines and payments for yourself.

How MCC Partners can help

We handle Corporation Tax for companies throughout Kent, from the return itself to planning the payments. If your UTR has gone astray or the details will not match, we can help you track them down and get the service activated, so you have proper visibility of your company’s tax.