A Corporate Tax Assessment is a structured, independent review of your taxable income calculation, filed returns and supporting records, designed to surface errors, missed reliefs, or compliance risk before the FTA identifies them through its own review. It is the kind of review an FTA officer would perform — but run on your terms, with time to correct anything found.
What's Included
We review your filed Corporate Tax returns against underlying financial records, verify that taxable income adjustments were applied correctly, confirm any reliefs claimed — Small Business Relief, Qualifying Income, group relief — remain properly supported, and identify any income or deduction that may have been misclassified.
At the end of the review, you receive a written report ranking findings by risk and financial impact, with clear recommendations — whether a process fix going forward, a voluntary correction for a specific period, or confirmation that your position is sound.
Why an Assessment Is Worth Doing
Errors found through your own assessment can generally be corrected proactively, which is materially better than the same error being identified by the FTA later. The difference between catching an issue yourself and having it discovered can be the difference between a straightforward correction and a formal dispute with penalties and interest attached.
An assessment is also valuable as reassurance for businesses relying on a specific relief or regime — confirmation that your QFZP position or Small Business Relief eligibility is genuinely well-supported is worth having before a bank facility renewal, an investment round, or a business sale.
Who Needs This Service
Businesses that have never had an independent Corporate Tax review, companies relying on QFZP status or Small Business Relief who want confirmation their position is solid, and any business preparing for a bank facility, investment round or sale.
What We'll Need From You
Access to your filed Corporate Tax returns, underlying financial records for the periods under review, and details of any reliefs or elections currently being claimed.
Our Process
We agree the scope and period to review, examine returns against underlying records, document any errors or risk areas found, and deliver a written report with prioritised recommendations, followed by a call to walk through the findings together.
What the Report Covers
Beyond a simple pass or fail, the report breaks down findings by return period and category, quantifies the financial exposure of anything found, and separates urgent issues needing immediate correction from lower-priority process improvements worth making over time.
An Assessment as an Annual Habit
Many clients now build an annual Corporate Tax assessment into their compliance calendar, treating it the same way they treat an annual financial audit — a routine check rather than something reserved only for when a problem is already suspected.
For businesses with a growing or changing structure, an annual assessment also serves as a natural checkpoint to confirm that reliefs claimed in prior years still reflect the business as it exists today, rather than as it existed when the relief was first assessed.
Assessments for Specific Areas of Concern
Beyond a general review, we also offer a narrower, faster assessment focused on a single area — related-party transactions, a specific relief claim, or one prior filing period — for businesses that already suspect where an issue might be and want it confirmed quickly rather than commissioning a full-scope review.
This targeted option is also a practical way to build confidence in a specific area before committing to a full-scope review, particularly for businesses working within a tighter budget or timeline.
Why Businesses Choose Us for an Assessment
Our assessments are performed by the same senior team members who handle FTA disputes and penalty matters for other clients, meaning the review is conducted with genuine knowledge of what an FTA officer actually looks for, not a generic checklist review. This is what makes the findings genuinely predictive of what a formal review would uncover.
We also price assessments as a fixed, transparent fee agreed before work begins, so there is no surprise cost regardless of how many issues the review happens to uncover, and no incentive on our part to either under- or over-state findings.
Assessments Before a Bank or Investor Review
Businesses preparing for a bank facility renewal, an investment round, or a sale often commission a Corporate Tax assessment specifically to demonstrate a clean, well-supported position to the counterparty — an issue discovered during someone else’s due diligence is a far worse position than one found and resolved on your own terms beforehand
Get Expert Help for Your Business
Talk to an FTA-approved tax consultant today. Free consultation, no obligation — we’ll tell you exactly what your business needs.
Getting Started
Tell us how many periods you would like reviewed and any specific concerns you have, and we will provide a fixed quote before any work begins.
Frequently Asked Questions
An assessment is a voluntary, private review you commission for your own benefit — an FTA audit is a formal, mandatory review the tax authority initiates, with legal consequences attached.
We explain the issue and its financial impact, then recommend next steps to correct it before the FTA identifies it independently.
Yes, reviewing whether the substance, income and de minimis conditions for QFZP status are genuinely met is a common focus of these assessments.
This depends on how long you have been Corporate Tax registered — many clients start with all periods filed to date, since Corporate Tax is still relatively new for most businesses.
Most reviews for a small to mid-sized business complete within one to two weeks, depending on record volume and complexity.