The deadlines that catch trustees out
Charity and CIC compliance isn't hard, but it is unforgiving. The deadlines run from your own financial year-end, not a fixed national date, so no two organisations have quite the same calendar. Trustees who are brilliant at the mission but new to filing are the ones who get caught — usually by assuming the deadline is later than it is.
This guide lays out the compliance calendar in plain English: what's due, when it's due, and where charities and CICs part company. Print it, stick it on the wall, and you'll never be the trustee explaining to a funder why the register says 'overdue'.
The headline rule: 10 months from year-end
For a registered charity in England and Wales, the annual return and accounts are due to the Charity Commission within 10 months of the end of your financial year. That's the single most important date to internalise.
So if your year-end is 31 March, your filing deadline is 31 January the following year. If your year-end is 31 December, you're due by 31 October. Work it out once, put it in the calendar, and set a reminder a couple of months early so you're not scrambling.
The 10-month formula: Financial year-end + 10 months = filing deadline. Year-end 31 March → due 31 January. Year-end 30 June → due 30 April. Year-end 31 December → due 31 October.
What you actually file with the Charity Commission
Depending on your income and structure, the annual submission can include some or all of:
- The annual return — an online form updating your details, income, spending and trustees.
- Your accounts — receipts-and-payments or accruals, depending on income and structure.
- A trustees' annual report — the narrative on what you did and how you spent the money.
- An independent examination or audit — required above certain income thresholds. Check the current thresholds, as the level of scrutiny required steps up as you grow.
Smaller charities generally have lighter requirements; larger ones face independent examination and, higher still, a full audit. If you're not sure which tier you're in, that's exactly the kind of thing to get started on with us before the deadline, not after.
CICs: a different desk entirely
A CIC is not a charity (we explain why in does my charity need to register), so its calendar is different. A CIC files with Companies House, not the Charity Commission, and its obligations look like a normal company's, plus one extra:
- Annual accounts to Companies House — generally due 9 months after the financial year-end for a private company.
- A confirmation statement to Companies House at least once a year.
- The CIC report (form CIC34) — filed alongside the accounts, explaining how the company benefited the community and what it paid directors.
- Corporation Tax with HMRC — a company tax return, with tax due 9 months and 1 day after the year-end, and the return itself due 12 months after year-end.
So a CIC juggles Companies House and HMRC deadlines, where a charity's main relationship is with its regulator. Don't assume charity rules apply to a CIC or vice versa.
The tax question people forget
A registered charity is largely exempt from tax on income used for charitable purposes, but it can still owe tax on non-primary-purpose trading. That's often the trigger for setting up a trading subsidiary that Gift-Aids its profits back up to the charity. If your charity runs a shop, café or commercial contracts, this matters, and it has its own filing consequences.
What happens if you file late
Late filing isn't just embarrassing, it has teeth:
- The Charity Commission flags your entry on the public register as overdue, which funders and donors can see.
- Persistent lateness can trigger regulatory action against trustees.
- For a CIC, Companies House issues automatic late-filing penalties that increase the longer you leave it, and can ultimately strike the company off.
- Late Corporation Tax returns and payments attract HMRC penalties and interest on top.
Worked example
A CIC with a 31 March year-end has a busy year. Its Companies House accounts and CIC34 report are due by 31 December (9 months after year-end). Its Corporation Tax bill is due by 1 January, and the tax return itself by the following 31 March. Miss the Companies House deadline and the penalty starts immediately and climbs the longer it slides. A registered charity with the same 31 March year-end, by contrast, has until 31 January to file its annual return and accounts with the Commission — a different date and a different desk.
Build the calendar once
The practical fix is boring but effective: write down your year-end, calculate every deadline from it, and put reminders in two months early. If you'd rather not track it yourself, we run the compliance calendar for charities and CICs so nothing slips. Get started and we'll build your dated checklist.
