View all companies

A company is a client within the software.

You can see a list of all companies by clicking View all companies in the Quick Links.

Alternatively, you can open a company from the links on My Dashboard.

From the company list, choose the company you want to open and click Open.

Or, double-click the company you want to open in the list.

  1. From the Company list, click Add. The Add company page appears, open at the Company details tab.
  2. Enter the Company name, Short code, Client code, and contact details for the company, together with the Unique tax reference and Company registration number. You can enter additional information about the company on this page at any time when the company is open, by clicking Company details in the navigator.

    3. Click Next.

  3. The Business activities page appears.

    4. Use the drop-down box to select the type of activity of the company:

    • UK trade

    • Overseas trade

    • UK property business

    • Overseas property business

    • Investment management

    For UK & Overseas trade, enter a name or description of the trade. The commencement date is only relevant if the date falls in a period you are completing a return for; there is no need to enter dates that are some years back.

    You can enter details of two activities here. You can enter further business activities once the company is created.

    Click Next.

  4. The Periods page appears.

    5. Enter the start date of the first period of account you want to work on. An end date 12 months later will automatically be entered for you. You can change this date if you wish, although the company's period of account can't be longer than 18 months.

  5. An accounting period will automatically be created if your period of account is 12 months long or shorter. If it's longer, two accounting periods will be created.

    6. You can change the accounting period dates by clicking Edit end date.

  6. Click Finish. The Client dashboard will open, showing the information you just entered.
  7. Type in the Client Code, Full name and a Short name.
  8. Click Save. The page closes and the new company shows in the list of companies.
Note:

This note and the workarounds will be of interest if you have any non-UK resident company landlords and/or other dormant companies that dispose of any assets within the chargeable gains regime.

Non-UK resident company landlords (NRCLs)

NRCLs became chargeable to UK Corporation Tax on the disposal on or after 6 April 2019 of any UK assets within the chargeable gains regime. NRCLs became chargeable to UK Corporation Tax on the income from any UK property with effect from 6 April 2020. Up to 5 April 2020, such income was chargeable to UK Income Tax.

For the disposal of an asset on or after 5 April 2019 but before 6 April 2020, this would mean the NRCL comes within the charge to Corporation Tax on the date of disposal of the asset and then immediately ceases to be within the charge to Corporation Tax. This results in a one-day accounting period, being the disposal date.

Workaround 1 (NRCLs) — Disposals on or after 6 April 2019 but before 6 April 2020

If you need to set up a company as a NRCL in Sage Corporation Tax in order to report chargeable gains on the disposal of asset(s) on or after 6 April 2019 but before 6 April 2020, please follow the steps below.

  1. You will need to set the new company (NRCL) up with a ‘dummy’ first period of account because you must have at least one business activity (e.g. a trade) when you first set up the company. See To add a company above. Make sure the first period of account ends before the date of your actual accounting period (which you will add at step 3).
  2. Enter the cessation date of the business activity (e.g. trade) as the same date as the end of the period of account added in step 1.
  3. Add new period (see Carry forward).
  4. Edit the dates of the new period of account to be the date of disposal of the asset(s). If there are disposals on consecutive days, the period of account must start on the date of the earliest disposal and end on the date of the latest disposal. If there are any days between the disposal dates those days will be gaps between the periods of account / accounting periods.
  5. Navigate to the Chargeable Gains / Capital Losses Summary screen and check the Non-UK resident company landlord checkbox and click Save.
  6. Navigate to the Disposals screen and click Add and then enter the details for the asset disposal. Remember that if there is more than one asset disposal, each must be on a day in the accounting period.
  7. Complete the data entry for the accounting period. File the return for the accounting period.
  8. Repeat steps 3 to 7 for the next period of account, if any, when you are ready to do so.

Workaround 2a (NRCLs) — Disposals made between 6 April 2019 and 5 April 2020 and UK property business existed before 6 April 2020

Where the NRCL has a UK property business, the NRCL will be within the charge to UK Corporation Tax on that property income as from 6 April 2020 (or later if the UK property business began after that date) and it will also be chargeable to UK Corporation Tax on the disposal of any assets (UK and non-UK) on or after 6 April 2019.

If the NRCL has already been set up in Sage Corporation Tax to report chargeable gains on or after 6 April 2019 but before 6 April 2020 (see above) and if the UK property business existed before 6 April 2020 (so the income was therefore within the UK Income Tax regime), please follow the steps below.

  1. Add a new period (see Carry forward).
  2. Edit the dates of the new period to begin on 6 April 2020 and to end on the appropriate date, which will depend on the NRCL’s accounting reference date.
  3. Navigate to the UK property business and enter 6 April 2020 in Commencement date and check the Non-UK resident company landlord checkbox on the Details tab.
  4. Complete the data entry for the accounting period. File the return for the accounting period.

Workaround 2b (NRCLs) — Disposals made between 6 April 2019 and 5 April 2020 and UK property business began after 6 April 2020

If the NRCL has already been set up in Sage Corporation Tax to report chargeable gains on or after 6 April 2019 but before 6 April 2020 (see above) and if the UK property business began after 6 April 2020 (so the income was therefore never within the UK Income Tax regime), please follow the steps in the workaround 2a above but at step 2, the new period must begin on the date the UK property business began which must be the date entered at step 3.

Workaround 3 (NRCLs) — Disposals made between 6 April 2019 and 5 April 2020 and UK property business began on or after 6 April 2020

If there were no chargeable gains on or after 6 April 2019 but before 6 April 2020 and if the UK property business began on or after 6 April 2020 (so the income was therefore never within the UK Income Tax regime), please follow the steps below.

  1. You will need to set the new company (NRCL) up with the UK property business and its first period of account beginning on 6 April 2020 (or the date the UK property business began, if later).
  2. Navigate to the UK property business and enter the date the UK property business began in Commencement date check the Non-UK resident company landlord checkbox on the Details tab.
  3. Complete the data entry for the accounting period. File the return for the accounting period.

Dormant companies disposing of assets within the chargeable gains regime

In certain situations, a company may have one or more very short (often one-day) accounting periods. This typically will be the case where the company is within the charge to Corporation Tax solely because it has disposed of one or more assets within the chargeable gains regime.

If the company has been dormant for a while (and therefore not within the charge to Corporation Tax) and then disposes of one or more assets on the same day and then again becomes dormant, the company comes within the charge to Corporation Tax on the date of disposal of the asset(s) and then immediately ceases to be within the charge to Corporation Tax. This results in a one-day accounting period, being the disposal date.

There may be subsequent asset disposals and those disposals will result in other one-day (or other very short) accounting periods. In between such asset disposals, if the company is dormant, there will be gaps between the accounting periods.

If you need to set up the period(s) of account / accounting period(s) to deal with such disposals, please follow the steps in the workaround below.

Workarounds for dormant companies

Follow the steps in the appropriate section below to set up the company and/or the period(s) of account.

Company is not set up in Sage Corporation Tax

  1. You will need to set the new company up with a ‘dummy’ first period of account because you must have at least one business activity (e.g. a trade) when you first set up the company. See To add a company above. Make sure the first period of account ends before the date of your actual period of account / accounting period (which you will add at step 3).
  2. Enter the cessation date of the business activity (e.g. trade) as the same date as the end of the period of account.
  3. Add new period see Carry forward. If you have not done step 2 before adding the new period, delete the new period and go back to step 2.
  4. Edit the dates of the new period of account to be the date of disposal of the asset(s). If there are disposals on consecutive days, the period of account / accounting period must start on the date of the earliest disposal and end on the date of the latest disposal. If there are any days between the disposal dates those days will be gaps between the periods of account / accounting periods.
  5. Complete the data entry for the accounting period. File the return for the accounting period.
  6. Repeat steps 3 to 5 for the next period of account, if any, when you are ready to do so.

Company already set up in Sage Corporation Tax

  1. Enter the cessation date for each business activity already set up to be no later than the latest period of account already added. If you do not enter a cessation date for a business activity it will still exist in the new period, once added, and you may have to delete the new period and lose the data entered in it.
  2. Follow steps 3 to 6 above.
  1. From the Company list, select the company you want to change and click Edit.
  2. The Company details page appears, and you can make the changes as required.
  3. When you've finished, click Save to close the window and return to the Company list.
  1. From the Company list, select the company you want to change and click Delete.