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I certainly echo what everyone else is saying. It is a huge inconvenience as a small business owner not being able to complete a corporation tax return in Xero once the HMRC online filing closes in March 2026. We are a 2 person business who don't require a Xero Partner as I'm also an accountant. Incurring the expense of paying another accountant to do something that I'm perfectly capable of doing myself is ludicrous. Even if it was an additional cost to our Xero subscription as Payroll and Projects I'd be happy.

The ironic twist here, and a real kick in the wotsits for Xero, is when I called a 'Xero Partner' he told me that, for what he would charge me, it would be cheaper to find better software that handles Corporation Tax!

Think about it, if a company doesn't owe tax, but still has to lodge, why would we want, or be able to afford, to pay for an accountant? I would happily pay a bit more for my subscription to be able to do everything myself. And shouldn't Xero be happier to keep customers over losing them?

I'm sure it's a simple bit of extra code, that's all. Or is Xero making more from partners to care about a small business' bottom line?

I think that Xero should revisit this situation, as HMRC's current online filing service ceases on 31st March 2026.

Xero caters well for other taxes, so it seems ridiculous that Corporation Tax isn't included in the plans. This could well lose Xero business in the future, especially if your competitors do offer this service.

Or simply, just remove from your Xero Partners programme.

I would appreciate being able to use xero to file my corporation tax and statutory accounts.

I have a basic small business and have no need to find a 'partner' to do this for me as I am a chartered accountant myself and more than capable of doing this.

As HMRC are moving toward a software only interface xero will need to provide this before that deadline or will surely loose customers who will find software that does enable them to do this?

Totally agree that it's frustrating (and a waste of money) to not be able to log corporation tax through Xero as a business owner.

This feature is critical for a solo business like mine with basic accounts. It would save me a lot in accountant fees. I actually only signed up to Xero as I thought this was possible, so I'm very disappointed to find out that it's not.

Also, it's even more important now that HMRC are planning to shift to software only accounts filing over the next few years, as per their email below.

It would be great if you can implement this sooner rather than later.

In the meantime, I think I might have to cancel my subscription and switch to somewhere like Freeagent which seems to offer this service.

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Changes to accounts
The online accounts and Company Tax Return service is closing on 31 March 2026.
If you use this service to file your accounts with Companies House and Company Tax Return with HMRC, you’ll need to find alternative filing methods once it closes.
Over the next 2 to 3 years, we’ll be transitioning towards filing accounts by software only. 
We’re preparing a detailed timetable and we aim to give companies 21 months’ notice ahead of the change. Most companies can make the change now as software is already available. We’ve published an updated version of our Find software for filing company accounts tool to help companies to choose a suitable software product.
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What is the point of being able to use Xero for VAT, MTD, and many other features but not Corporation Tax? I pay a subscription to manage my own company, but I must pay for an accountant just to lodge my Corporation Tax. It's even more frustrating when I have to pay extra to lodge a loss.

Come on, MTD in the 21st Century, Xero should be an all-in-one solution.

What is the status of this request? I am able to file my tax returns directly with Companies House but not via Xero - this seems counter intuitive and unproductive. With Companies House moving to software only submission of tax returns this is becoming critical.

Hey Xero, just make it happen for us small businesses that YOU SUPPORT. Because you support us, right? Right!?

Looking into the following that may be the answer to my Xero disgust

https://www.freeagent.com/features/competitors/

Can you confirm it is only Xero who want to make us pay your partners for the pleasure of filing accounts whether it is something we need or not?
I remember when Xero was marketed as the ideal software for smaller businesses who wanted more control over their accounts as they didn't need nor could afford expensive Accountants, but those days are gone and Xero is in it 'for' their partners who just happen to be Accountants
Be careful Xero your customers will only take so much before they move on to the next beautiful software provider

It makes no sense - all the numbers are in Xero, but we're blocked from sending them to HMRC and have to copy/paste them to another software to be able to submit a partnership return. I wouldn't even mind if Xero charged a fee, just like the other tax submission sites do, I would just like to do it directly and do it myself.

I believe Sage is making it possible for clients to submit their own MTD ITSA quarterly returns, i.e. not having to join an accountancy firm for Partner access. Is Xero still adamant that the submission is only available to Partners? Surely they should see that people will move to software that helps them do the job (even if it isn't their first choice of software)?

I agree with the comments below: Not only am I a company director of my own consultancy company, I'm a Chartered Accountant, so I'm perfectly capable of submitting my ltd company accounts.

Agree with previous comments. It's a major issue that as a company director of a small start-up I cannot perform this simple task without huge expense employing someone else. I am a company of one, no employees, minimal profit in year 1, and I already pay a few hundred a year for this subscription. The government deems me responsible enough to start up and run a company director yet Xero imply I'm not responsible enough to prepare and file my own accounts and tax return. Frankly, it's unacceptable.

It's ridiculous that Xero only offers this to its partners who we then need to pay £1000 for the privilege. The electronic submission of accounts directly from within Xero should be a simple process for many small businesses but Xero is forcing us to use an accountant

Agreeing this is incredibly annoying. The only reason I have Xero is to submit VAT and Corporation Tax returns easily. Ours is a tiny company, 2 directors, no other employees and all I want to do is submit a Corporation Tax return, which should be included in the most basic of options.

I use Xero for my LLP partnership accounts to submit VAT returns. I've just been trying to work out how to submit an SA800 partnership tax return via Xero as I can see this became a new option in 2023. I followed the guidance in the Xero articles that told me to choose "partnership" in "organisation settings", followed by "enable partnership tax" in the accounting menu. I did this and no option to enable partnership tax appeared in the accounting menu even though I had waited longer than five minutes for the page to refresh. So I contacted Xero support. And they gave me this answer:

"Partnership Tax is only available to our UK Xero Partners who are part of our Xero partner program. If you want to file your accounts or tax return through Xero Tax, we recommend you reach out to one of our Partners. I've included a link to our advisor directory that lists accountants and bookkeepers proficient in Xero. You can filter the list by area, industry experience, firm size, advisor type and experience with Xero products."

For the past few years I have been submitting VAT returns via Xero, but submitting partnership tax returns via Selftax.co.uk because Xero wasn't listed on the HMRC site as one of the software programs that I could use to submit a partnership tax return.

Clearly I'm just going to do the same again if Xero doesn't allow me to do this: I.e. I'm going to use Selftax.co.uk to submit my partnership tax return. But it makes no sense to me that I can submit VAT returns via Xero and yet I have to go to Selftax.co.uk to submit my SA800. Anybody else have the same problem? Surely we should be able to submit our partnership tax returns directly.

For very small companies like ours (2 directors, one apprentice), the ability to file - for example - CT 600 is essential. As it is we can use other companies software - but this is unnecessarily inconvenient.

It is making us consider whether or not we should use other accounting software.

Completely agree this is a basic that should be there. I am an FCA working within companies. They are paying me for my experience and expertise in preparing accounts, yet the accounting package doesn't let me do this, and forces them to pay twice, and pay more, for an accountancy practice to do what could be done in house. Or to do accounts manually, which is more time consuming. This is a misjudgement of your customers and their needs.
In response to the reply above suggesting to connect to a Xero partner, we do have one, but don't want to pay them to prepare accounts when I can do this in house for a much lower cost.
A first step could be for Xero partners to be able to give customer staff access to the functionality, to prepare accounts and tax for the partners to review, if this could be a quick win, but this functionality should be available for all customers as they all need to prepare accounts and tax returns and shouldn't be held ******* to pay a partner they don't otherwise need.

Appreciate the response Kelly, but again, you are missing the point. Your customer don't want or need a Xero Partner. It's unnecessary cost that many cannot afford.

Ignoring this section of your customer base and continually trying to push them towards a Partner they don't need or want or cannot afford will just cause people to leave and go with products that suit their needs.