How can I claim more than once a year? 🤔

Put simply, you can shorten your Accounting Period with Companies House. As an example, let's say your most recent year end was 30 June 2024, and you submitted a VGTR claim for that year. Your next year end is therefore automatically set as 30 June 2025. Rather than wait until 30 June 2025 to submit your next VGTR claim, you could shorten your year end from 30 June 2025 to 31 Dec 2024. and submit a claim for the 6 months ended 31 Dec 2024.

There's obviously some rules about shortening accounting periods (for example, your first accounting period following incorporation must be between 6 and 18 months, your accounts must not be overdue for filing etc) but what's important to note here is that an accounting period can be shortened as often as you like, and many games studios take advantage of this.

Going back to our example above where you've shortened your year end from 30 June 2025 back to 31 Dec 2024. Once you've filed your 31 Dec 2024 accounts (and VGTR claim), your next scheduled year end is 31 Dec 2025 - however, you could shorten your year end again from 31 Dec 2025 back to 30 June 2025 to submit another VGTR claim in 6 months time.

What are the benefits in doing this? 💰

Firstly, and most crucially, cashflow. It can make the difference between possible closure of your studio vs carrying on as normal. That's pretty huge. Claiming twice (or even three times!) a year means regular funds coming into the studio, sooner than they would if your accounting period was 12 months.

Secondly, if it's your first VGTR claim, submitting early acts as a great proof of concept with HMRC. HMRC have been known to select first claims for an enquiry, particularly if they're being made via an SPV, so it makes sense to submit a smaller claim earlier when you have available runway rather than waiting many more months when cash is tight and then potentially being held up by a HMRC enquiry.

What else do I need to know? ℹ️

It's important to remember that VGTR is claimed as part of your Corporation Tax Return, and your Corporation Tax Return must be filed with a set of Statutory Accounts. Therefore, if you change your year end, the usual filings will be required, ie: you can't just submit a VGTR claim in isolation.

Feel free to comment below or DM me if you'd like more info on any of this.

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