CIC accountants · Community Interest Companies

CIC accountants who know the second rulebook.

Accounting services built around how a Community Interest Company actually works — CIC34 reports, corporation tax, the asset lock and director pay — with FreeAgent included and a named accountant who won't need the CIC regime explaining to them.

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CIC accounting services

What we actually do for a Community Interest Company

Annual accounts

Company accounts prepared and filed at Companies House on time, in the format a CIC needs — with the numbers explained to your board in plain English, not accountant.

CIC34 community interest report

The annual report the CIC Regulator expects: what you did for your community, who you consulted, and what directors were paid. Prepared and filed alongside your accounts.

Corporation tax

A CIC pays corporation tax like any company. We calculate it, file the CT600, and — far more usefully — tell you what's building up during the year rather than after it.

Bookkeeping with FreeAgent

FreeAgent included free (worth up to £330 a year) — bank feeds, invoicing, receipts from your phone and a live tax estimate. The right tool for a trading CIC.

About FreeAgent

VAT & payroll

VAT registration and returns once your taxable turnover passes the threshold, plus PAYE and auto-enrolment pensions for your team — run properly, so director pay is clean for the CIC34.

Funding & grants

Our Swoop-powered portal maps grants, social investment and community finance against your cause and structure — and we make the numbers funder-ready.

Explore funding

The honest bit

Three things CIC founders get told wrong

1. A CIC is not a charity, and it pays corporation tax. This is the single most common surprise. A Community Interest Company is an ordinary company for tax purposes — the asset lock and the social mission change what you can do with a surplus, not whether it's taxed. Registered charities get the broad exemption; CICs don't. Money genuinely spent on the mission during the year reduces profit, but retained surplus is taxable. Our post on whether CICs pay corporation tax goes through it properly.

2. A CIC can't claim Gift Aid. Gift Aid belongs to registered charities. If donations are central to your model, that may be a reason to look again at charitable status before you're two years in — see our structure guide or the charity vs CIC comparison.

3. FreeAgent is right for a CIC — and wrong for a charity. We include FreeAgent because it genuinely fits a trading CIC. It has no concept of fund accounting, no Charities SORP and no Gift Aid, which is fine, because a CIC doesn't need any of them. If you later add a charitable arm, we set that side up differently rather than bending one tool to two jobs.

Read the structure guide

Your CIC year

The filings we keep on the clock

Annual accounts to Companies House, prepared for a CIC rather than a generic small company
CIC34 community interest report, filed with those accounts
Company tax return (CT600) and the corporation tax payment date, tracked from your year-end
Confirmation statement and Companies House housekeeping
VAT returns where you're registered, under Making Tax Digital
Payroll RTI and pension submissions every pay run, including director pay
Deadline monitoring all year — you get reminders early, not a panic in month twelve

Get your CIC deadlines mapped

Who we're a good fit for

New CICs, trading CICs and groups with both

New CICs

Just approved by the CIC Regulator, or about to apply. We get the bookkeeping, corporation tax registration and first-year deadlines right from transaction one — see CIC formation, step by step.

Trading CICs with staff

Payroll, pensions, VAT and management accounts for a CIC that's genuinely operating — plus the director pay disclosure the CIC34 asks for.

Charity + CIC groups

A charity with a trading company, or a CIC alongside a charitable arm. Two rulebooks, one accountant, profits gift-aided up where that's the right structure.

Want the fees rather than the detail? Our charity and CIC pricing page lists every package and what sits in it.

CIC questions

Asked all the time

What does a CIC accountant actually do?

Everything a company accountant does — bookkeeping, annual accounts, the corporation tax return, VAT, payroll and Companies House filings — plus the parts that are specific to a Community Interest Company: the CIC34 community interest report, the asset lock and dividend caps, director pay disclosure, and reporting that satisfies funders as well as HMRC.

Do CICs pay corporation tax?

Yes. A CIC is an ordinary company for tax and pays corporation tax on its profits, unlike a registered charity, which is largely exempt. "Social enterprise" and "not-for-profit" are descriptions of your mission, not tax statuses — so your CIC's tax needs planning, not discovering at year-end.

What is a CIC34 report?

The annual community interest report a CIC files at Companies House alongside its accounts, setting out what the company did for its community, who it consulted, and what it paid its directors. Miss it and you are answerable to the CIC Regulator, not just Companies House. We prepare and file it as part of your package.

Can a CIC claim Gift Aid?

No — Gift Aid is only available to registered charities. If your model depends on donations, that's a structure question worth revisiting before you commit; our structure guide compares the options honestly.

Do you use FreeAgent for CICs?

Yes, and it's included free. FreeAgent genuinely suits CICs and company-style social enterprises — invoicing, bank feeds, a live corporation tax estimate and Making Tax Digital. It does not do charity fund accounting, the SORP or Gift Aid, so we don't pretend it does; a CIC simply doesn't need those.

How much does a CIC accountant cost?

Fixed monthly fees from £39 + VAT for a new or small CIC, rising with size and complexity — see our pricing page for the packages and what sits in each. Your exact fee is agreed in writing before we start, and there's no hourly billing.