HMRC to chase missing Company Tax returns from 16 November

From 16 November 2026GOV, a company whose records show no Company Tax return may receive a letter from HMRC, followed by a text message or a phone call where nothing happens. HMRC sends the letter where its records show the Company Tax return has not been submitted.GOV The recipient is asked to file the outstanding return even where it is nil, to say the company is dormant or no longer trading, or to get in touch where the recipient is no longer a director.GOV Where the recipient takes no action, HMRC may send a text message or contact the recipient by phone to remind them to submit the return or get in touch.

The contact may ask the recipient to confirm identity.GOV It never asks for bank detailsGOV and never asks for payment by textGOV. That distinction matters because HMRC sometimes uses more than one way to get in touch: a letter first, then a follow-up email, call or text message. Using more than one method can provide an extra level of security, can help prepare the recipient for the follow-up, and reflects the contact details HMRC holds. Every contact in the multi-method series can use more than one communication method, and recipients can report suspicious HMRC emails, texts, social media accounts and phone calls through the established reporting route.

A company is usually dormant for Corporation Tax where it has stopped trading and has no other income such as investments, where it is a new limited company that has not started trading, where it is an unincorporated association or club owing less than £100 Corporation Tax, or where it is a flat management company. Trading includes buying, selling, renting property, advertising, employing someone or getting interest. Where HMRC thinks the company is dormant, it may write to say it has decided to treat the company or association as dormant and that no Corporation Tax is due and no Company Tax Returns need filing. Where the company considers itself dormant, it can tell HMRC it is dormant for Corporation Tax.

Telling HMRC brings its own filing position. After telling HMRC the company is dormant, no further Company Tax Return is needed unless HMRC asks for one or trading restarts. A limited company that has told HMRC of dormancy files no further return unless it receives a further notice to deliver. Where a Company Tax Return has been filed or a notice to deliver has been issued, the return for the period still needs filing online, which shows HMRC the company is dormant for that period. Information about a dormant company must still go to Companies House, including annual accounts and a confirmation statement. The online dormancy service needs the company name, the 10-digit Unique Taxpayer Reference and the date trading stopped; a tax agent or adviser can use it for a client with an agent code, and phone or post routes remain for those who cannot use the online service.

Directors and agents should diary 16 November 2026 for the new contact, check which companies show outstanding returns, file any nil return due, submit dormancy where the company has stopped trading with no other income, contact HMRC where the recipient is no longer a director, and brief staff that a genuine Missing Corporation Tax return contact confirms identity but never requests bank details or text paymentGOV.

Legal basis: the Missing Corporation Tax return contact from 16 NovemberGOV 2026 with the file-even-if-nil, dormant-or-no-longer-trading and no-longer-a-director routes, alongside the dormant-for-Corporation-Tax rules on when no further return is due.